


the badger and the lion.

by maevescene



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Best Friends, Book + movie details, Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Cedric Diggory Lives, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gryffindor, Gryffindor Reader, Gryffindor x Gryffindor, Gryffindor/Hufflepuff relationship, I blame tiktok for this, Jealous Fred Weasley, Love Triangles, Quidditch, Slow Burn, Sweet, Triwizard Tournament, i needed to get this out of my system, idk how long this will be Im sorry, its not my fault
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 47,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26371108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maevescene/pseuds/maevescene
Summary: Fred Weasley is your best friend, and you have developed feelings for him. You attend the Quidditch world cup with the Weasley's, who meet up with the Diggory's on the way. Cedric Diggory begins to take a liking to you, and, with the Triwizard tournament announced at Hogwarts, who knows what could come of this unexpected year.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory & Reader, Cedric Diggory/Reader, Cedric Diggory/You, Fred Weasley & Reader, Fred Weasley/Reader, Fred Weasley/You, Reader - Relationship
Comments: 27
Kudos: 255





	1. A Late Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> When recreating the beginning of the story, I pulled from both the book and the movie, so I apologise if it's a bit muddled up or long! I hope you enjoy the first chapters. I'll be updating every week or so x

“Come on, Y/N!” a voice called from the depths of your subconscious. A burst of yellow colour behind your eyelids made your eyes clamp shut to shield you from the blinding light. A bitter cold enveloped your legs as your covers were quickly ripped from your body. 

“Hermione…” you whined, as it was all coming together in your head. 

“I know you’re tired, but we need to get moving if we’re going to get there on time. Especially with your morning routine, you should have been up an hour ago,” she explained. 

You had stayed the night at your friend Hermione Granger’s house. You had both been invited to watch the Quidditch World Cup this year with the Weasley’s, which you had been looking forward to all week – and it was finally here.

“You’re lucky I did my hair last night,” you whined. 

You rubbed your eyes open and could see Hermione was already dressed and packing her overnight bag, checking off a list as she went. You stretched out of bed, and went over to your bags that were on her desk chair, where a similar looking checklist to Hermione’s rested, and you rolled your eyes. Even though she was two years your junior, Hermione did have the tendency to mother you. You said hello to your Bombay cat Beetle, who was asleep in her crate, and quickly gathered your things to go to the bathroom. 

The hot water remaining from Hermione’s time in the shower stung your ice cold legs as you stepped under the shower head. You were miserable to be up before lunch on the summer break, but quidditch was one of your favourite things in the entire world – apart from pumpkin pasties – and you were beyond excited to be going today. You were a chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team, and you were quite good, if you did say so yourself. And going to the quidditch world cup was a once in a lifetime sort of event. But you knew something else was making you feel giddy. Too giddy for eleven in the morning, and maybe even too giddy for quidditch. And then you realised… 

You were seeing Fred Weasley for the first time since school ended. 

You and Fred had been best friends since your first year at Hogwarts together after meeting in transfiguration class. He tried to show off to you by turning your cat Beetle yellow, but he almost set her alight instead. He apologised profusely after that, and you soon realised you had a lot in common, mainly your love for quidditch and hatred for Potions. And besides, you couldn’t resist that school-boy charm or cheeky grin of his. Maybe your crush on Fred began then, but you only recently noticed last year that you had feelings for him, after you observed him in Charms with a Slytherin girl who was his assigned partner. Green jealousy turned in your stomach as you heard them laugh and joke across the room. You knew it meant nothing, and you had no reason to feel this way, since you were just friends. But you thought the friendship you had was starting to lean towards something more after you noticed Fred being more affectionate with you – holding your hand sometimes when you were alone, cuddling up to you while you were doing your assigned readings in the common room, and resting his hand on your knee under the table in the Great Hall. Maybe you were just focusing on these things too much. But something in your mind played with the idea of him slipping away from you, and wouldn’t shut up about it. You then deduced that this was a sure sign that you liked Fred Weasley. 

You finished up in the bathroom as quickly as you could, dressing relatively warm to account for the cloudy afternoon that was suspected to arrive. 

“Pig just visited, and Ron said that it’s okay we’re coming a day late, they were just a bit worried we weren’t there yesterday afternoon, and I se - how have you had time to put makeup on?” Hermione asked surprised as you packed the last remaining things into your bag. 

“The magic of multitasking my friend,” you said proudly, unable to admit you might’ve slipped over in the shower if you had moved any faster to get ready.

“And 10 minutes to spare, very nice,” she complemented. “Are you trying to impress anyone in particular or is it just to practice for the getting ready world cup?” 

You scoffed at this remark, knowing exactly what she was talking about. You may have mentioned to Hermione in passing last term that Fred was a bit cute, and she took this comment quite literally, understanding it as if you were in love with him, and you’ve never been able to live it down. 

“Like you can talk,” you pointed out. You placed the back of your hand to your forehead pretending to faint, ready to put on your best Hermione impression. “Oh Ron, I think I’d just die if I didn’t come with you to the Quidditch world cup! It’d be a travesty if I couldn’t stand next to you for 2 hours, I can barely think of what it’s going to be like over summer when I can’t see you!”  
You fell onto Hermione’s bed in a fit of giggles, but she didn’t seem to appreciate the mockery. 

It was nice to have Hermione with you when you were with the Weasley’s. Spending time with the almost all male family could be a lot to handle, and you both realised that female company was a welcome relief, and became great friends because of it. This also became apparent to Ginny Weasley, the youngest of the family, who also joined in with you two.

“Pig brought another letter with him, for you,” Hermione said, handing you the envelope. You could tell it was Fred’s handwriting, and smiled down, eagerly opening it. 

_I hope you’re okay, I thought you were coming yesterday afternoon._  
_I miss you, and I hope I get to see you before the game on Monday._  
\- Fred. 

“Come on,” she instructed, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “He’ll will be waiting for you at the Burrow.” 

You shook your head in disbelief at Hermione’s smugness, and followed her out of her bedroom with your bags and Beetle in tow. 

*** 

“They’re here!” a jolly woman sang at the front door of The Burrow as Hermione rung the bell.

The door swung open with a creek, and a beaming middle aged woman with bushy orange hair stood in the doorway.

“Hermione! Lovely to see you, dear,” Molly Weasley cooed, opening her arms up, which Hermione stepped in to. “And the wonderful Y/N!” 

She motioned you to her, and you gave her a warm hug. “Great to see you, Mrs. Weasley,” 

“And you, both,” she replied. 

She directed you inside, where you saw Ginny sitting in the living room with two older looking boys with matching red hair, one of whom you recognised as Charlie Weasley, who was your Quidditch captain when you first joined the team a few years ago. The other, you guessed was Bill Weasley. Ginny looked up and her face showed a large smile as she recognised you both. 

“Hello!” she exclaimed excitedly, bringing you both into a hug. 

“Hey, Ginny,” you greet. “How have you been?” 

“Good, good. Everyone’s just left to go and get Harry,” she advised. “You’ve just missed them.” 

The thought of waiting even longer to see Fred sent a pang of sadness through you, but you didn’t let it show on your face. 

“It’s okay,” you insisted. “We’ll see them soon.” 

Bill and Charlie were now standing behind Ginny, waiting to greet you. 

“Y/N,” Charlie said to you, and stretched out a blistered hand with wrinkled scar tissue between his index finger and thumb. Fred mentioned that he works with dragons some place far from here, which is something that you've always wanted to talk to him about, even though he was extremely intimidating when you were on the team with him. He looked more like the twins than Percy and Ron did, but more freckled and muscular on account of his line of work. "It's been a while. Still the best Chaser we've ever seen at Hogwarts?"

“I hope so," you said, blushing as you shook his hand cautiously, trying not to be too forceful on his wounds. Bill also greeted you, an air of cool surrounding him which contrasted the image of the rule-abiding Head-Boy that you vaguely remembered from your first year at Hogwarts. Long red hair was tied back in a pony tail, and the glisten of a dangling fang from his ear caught your eye. 

Ginny took you up to her room on the first floor, where three beds were squeezed in next to each other. You and Hermione placed your bags down in the corner to leave room for a walkway. 

“It’s so good to see you both,” Ginny said, collapsing onto her bed. “With Bill and Charlie here now, we need some girls to balance things out.” 

You and Hermione laugh. “Lucky there’s not so many of them around, now,” Hermione said. 

A knock at the door startled you all, and a lanky red haired boy stood in the doorway.

“Sorry, hello everyone,” Percy Weasley greeted you. You waved back at him. “I’m just doing some work at the moment, if you wouldn’t mind keeping it down, it would be a great help.” 

You remembered in one of Fred’s letters that Percy had just got a job at the Ministry. Percy was obviously a fit candidate for any role within the Ministry, but Fred insisted that you are to not ask him about anything to do with his work, unless you wanted to be bored to tears. 

“Okay, Percy,” Ginny said, and he left up the stairs to his room. “Shall we go to the kitchen?” 

You and Hermione nodded. She went over to grab Crookshanks out of his crate, and you thought Beetle might like to stretch her legs, too. 

“Crookshanks loves chasing the gnomes in the garden,” Hermione said, carrying Crookshanks like a baby. “He’s been waiting all holidays to go and play with them.” 

“Not Beetle,” you say, letting her climb on your shoulder. You remember last summer when Beetle came into the house with her head oddly tilted, and saw a gnome had latched onto her ear, and another was riding her like a horse. Fred had to deter them from Beetle, and luckily they didn’t cause any harm. She didn’t go outside the rest of the summer. “She hates them.” 

You followed Ginny downstairs out to the kitchen, and let Beetle outside with Crookshanks. She pounced around in the grass, following Crookshanks around for protection.

In the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley was preparing sandwiches for lunch. You and Ginny sat at the table, buttering the bread while Hermione put different assortments of fillings in. Mrs. Weasley asked about your break and how your mum was going, and how the twins were excited to see you, especially Fred, which made your cheeks turn bright pink. She also asked you if you knew anything about Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, to which you shook your head, trying to cover up what you really knew. 

Fred had told you about this new venture with George. They were developing joke products that they wanted to try and sell at Hogwarts. He sent you some order lists, just to keep safe if any got lost. And lucky he did, because from the sounds of what Mrs. Weasley did with the ones she found when she was cleaning, the twins are lucky that they even have those copies left. 

Beetle suddenly came sprinting into the kitchen onto your lap. She was shaking while looking at the doorway, where four gnomes were sneering and giggling at her. Behind them, Crookshanks looked ready to pounce, but Beetle was extremely nervous, burying her face into your arm. You put your buttering knife down, and picked her up off your lap.

“I might just go and calm her down,” you tell Ginny, who nods.

“I can finish up here,” she assured you, and you carried the startled Beetle out of the kitchen. 

As you were walking to the staircase, the fireplace in the living room began to rattle and hiss. Bill and Charlie didn’t seem too phased by it, so you shrugged it off and continued to Ginny’s room, closing the door behind you. A sudden commotion downstairs made Beetle jump out of your arms and collide with Ginny’s lamp on her desk with a crash, and it fell to the floor. She scurried under the row of beds, now out of sight.

“Come on, Beetle,” you cooed at her, while picking up the lamp. Percy was going to kill you, you thought to yourself. “I’m sure it was nothing.” 

You fished some treats out of the front pocket of your bag, and placed them on the floor in front of the bed, which she took to tentatively. 

A knock at the door then startled her even more, and she retreated under the bed. It opened with a creek, and you crouched to look at where Beetle had gone. 

“I’m sorry Percy, I was ju-“ 

But it wasn’t Percy. 

It was Fred. 

A smile grew on his face, and you smiled back. You ran up to him and jumped in his arms, locking your legs around his waist and arms around his neck. He spun you around, which made you laugh, and stopped he with a sigh, and kissed your cheek, which caught you off guard. 

“Hello,” he said, looking at you with sparkling eyes. 

“Hi,” you said back. You hugged him again, and he squeezed you tight. You hopped down, and looked under the bed, two green eyes peering back at you. 

“Hey, Beetle,” you said to her in your best baby voice. “Guess who’s here?” 

She continued to look at you, with no sign that she’s going to be moving any time soon. 

“Why’s she under there?” Fred asked, sitting on the bed next to you where you were crouched. 

“Gnomes,” you sighed, and Fred nodded, laughing a bit. 

“Did they take a ride on her again?” he asked, recounting the last summer she was attacked by them. 

“I don’t think so,” you said, getting up and sitting next to Fred. “But they must’ve done something.” 

Fred stared at you, smiling. He then took your hand in his. “I really missed you over the break.” A prickle of heat rose up to your cheeks. “I think we all did.”

“I doubt that,” you said, looking away nervously. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here sooner, too. Mum really got caught up with work and needed someone at the shop to help out after that lady I told you about had her baby. And then Hermione’s parents were caught up with work yesterday afternoon and couldn’t drop us here in time.”

“It’s fine,” Fred assured you. “You’re here now, and that’s all that matters.”

“Get a room, you two,” a voice called from the staircase. You rolled your eyes, and George entered the room. 

“Hi, George,” you stood up and gave him a hug, and he greeted you back.

“Uh, Fred,” he said, halfway out the door. “Mum wants to see us.” 

Fred looked at you, and shrugged. 

“I’ll see you in a bit,” Fred told you softly, and gave your shoulder a squeeze before leaving. “It’s good to see you, Y/N.” 

You sat back down on the bed, smiling to yourself. It was good to see him, too. 

*** 

Dinner was down in the garden against the beautiful orange-pink sunset. The air was clear and still, and everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. Even Beetle, who was deathly afraid of the gnomes this afternoon, had settled outside watching Crookshanks pounce and chase the little turnip-looking creatures. As always, Mrs. Weasley had put on a beautiful spread, even though you could hear a commotion from inside the kitchen a few hours earlier, which was probably after her ‘chat’ with Fred and George. 

Harry Potter, who arrived with Fred and George a few hours ago, had told you that his cousin had eaten a Ton-Tongue Toffee that the twins ‘accidentally’ left on the ground. His tongue had grown four feet before Mr. Weasley convinced his parents to shrink it. Fred then told you about what Mrs. Weasley had said to them earlier about it, but he didn’t seem too bothered. You knew that he and George were working hard on their new endeavour, and they were determined to get where they wanted to be. You had always admired that about them.

At the table, you were next to Charlie, who you talked to about his work, and he picked up that you had a knack for Care of Magical Creatures, which he told you reminded him of how he was in school. He told you about working in Romania, and how much he enjoyed it, even showing you his worst burns like they were achievements. He pulled out a dragon scale from his pocket, which he retrieved from a Swedish Short Snout back in Romania. The scale glistened a chromatic navy-silver as you shifted it against the fading sunlight.

“Keep it,” Charlie told you. “I can scoop up plenty when I get back to the centre.”

You thanked him, and put it away in your jean pocket.

Fred was next to you, and he rested his hand on your knee under the tablecloth as he conversed with Harry, Ron, and George about the world cup, debating about the previous match between England and Transylvania, and who was tipped to win tomorrow. Percy and Mr. Weasley were at the other end of the table talking about work and their colleagues, which sounded rather draining. Fred looked over at you sometimes to make sure you were having a good time, and it made him smile when you were laughing and enjoying yourself. You looked back him, and squeezed his hand that was on your knee, and continued to hold it, which made him smile even more.

Something about the night felt good. You felt comfortable here. You felt like you belonged. You loved your mum, a lot. But this felt like family. And being with Fred again for the first time in months might be the best part about it.


	2. The Unbelievable Physics of Portkeys

“Lovies, it’s time to get up.” 

Not again. You already had an early start yesterday morning, and now it was happening again. You opened your eyes, but it was still dark in the room.

“What time is it?” Ginny asked groggily. 

“Five-thirty,” Hermione said back, already on her feet. She opened the blinds, and you and Ginny groaned at the sunlight streaming in. “Come on, it’s not that bad.” 

You all got ready quietly, too tired to start talking. You were still full from dinner last night, but the delightful smells from downstairs made your stomach rumble. Hermione left to see if the boys were downstairs, but from the sound of her stomping back upstairs to the upper levels, they definitely were not.

You dressed warm to account for the chill in the room, and headed downstairs. Mrs. Weasley was making eggs and bacon, and you offered to cook the sausages and tomatoes while she was concentrating on not burning the toast. Hermione and Ginny set the table and helped you divide the food between the plates. Everyone then appeared downstairs, most likely entranced by the smell of cooking. They all looked rather muggle-like, as did you, to conceal their magical identities. A warm body then enveloped you from behind as you flipped the last sausage in the pan. 

“Good morning,” Fred whispered in your ear. “It smells great.” 

“Good morning to you, too.” 

The plates filled up one by one, and you all sat around the table. Bill and Charlie sat across from you, and they flicked their wands at the empty jugs in the middle of the table, filling them up with orange juice. Ron, Fred and George were eating like they were in competition with each other, taking one bite after another while their mouths were still full. Mr. Weasley had to tell them to slow down, but even he was eating a bit too quick, probably stressed that we would be late to get to our destination. Percy came downstairs later, complaining to his father that he might miss out of substantial time to get his report on the inconsistent thickness of cauldron bottoms done. Mr. Weasley assured him it’d be okay, but Percy still seemed peeved, and the group started mocking him relentlessly.

“Alright kids, we need to be at the door ready to go in twenty minutes,” Mr. Weasley said, placing his cutlery in the middle of his plate. 

With a swish of her wand, Mrs. Weasley cleared the table once everyone was finished. You had already packed your bag last night under Hermione’s recommendation, which left you a little bit of time left to relax.

You lie down on the end of your bed in the now empty room, as Hermione and Ginny had gone outside to watch Crookshanks and Beetle pounce around together in the garden under the morning sun. A sudden knock at the door startled you. 

Fred smiled as he leaned against the doorframe. He entered, and let out an exhale as he flopped down next to you. 

“Are you all ready to go?” he asked. You nodded, yawning. “You better not be doing that later tonight.” 

“But, what if the game goes for five days, like the last world cup?” you asked him, giggling. 

“That’s no excuse. No yawning on my watch,” he tapped your nose playfully. “And no sleeping, either.” 

“For 120 hours?” you scoffed. “I’d die.” 

“And no dying, either,” he stated. You rolled your eyes. 

“So demanding,” you joked. 

You couldn’t help but smile when you looked at Fred like this – just you two, alone, laughing, like it was just you left in the universe and nothing else mattered. A sparkle would always linger in his eyes, which made you want to stay like this forever, or just a few more minutes. And something told you that he felt the same.

At the sound of the stairs creaking on the floor above you, he got up from the bed and extended his hand out to help you up. 

“Better not be late,” he said. “If we were, I’d blame you.” 

“Why, me?” you laughed. He looked down at you and smiled, the sparkle returning to his brown eyes. 

“No reason,” he shrugged, smirking to himself. It seemed like he was trying to hint at something, but to what, you weren’t sure. “It’s just your fault.”

You shook your head, and left the room to meet the others downstairs. You swung your bag over your shoulder and followed Ginny out the front door, and waited for Mr. Weasley for directions. He then set off, marching in the direction of the forest next to the house. It seemed an odd route, since when you’ve been exploring the forest with the twins in some of the summers you spent together it seemed never ending. But you shrugged it off, and followed Fred and George, taking two steps for every one of theirs to keep up. 

“Dad, where are we going?” Ron yelled, about ten metres behind the main group. 

“Haven’t the foggiest,” Mr. Weasley replied, speed-walking ahead to make good time, but for what, even he didn’t know. “Keep up.” 

The group followed Mr. Weasley along a winding route amongst thick oak trees and their winding roots, which almost caught you once or twice, and made Fred giggle at your expense. 

“Have a nice trip?” he asked, a hint of laughter caught at the end of his words. 

“Wow,” you said sarcastically. “Haven’t heard that one before.” 

He looked down at you and smiled, nudging your arm playfully. Your hands brushed against each other a few times, and Fred kept catching it and squeezing before letting go, which sent a rush of heat to your cheeks like you’d just stepped into a sauna. 

In the distance, you could see a figure standing by a particularly large and old oak tree, its roots snaking around the ground before sinking into the mulch below. The figure then became clearer as the group approached it. It was a man, around Mr. Weasleys age and height, with a wiry beard and brown hair, a large hiking pack on his back and a walking stick in his hand. 

“Arthur!” he shouted, and Mr. Weasley waved at him. “It’s about time.” 

“Sorry, Amos,” Mr. Weasley apologised, walking up to him. “Some of us slept in the morning.” 

He looked back at Harry and Ron, who both yawned in unison. 

“Everyone, this is Amos Diggory,” Arthur announced as the group approached the man, who nodded a greeting. 

Diggory? You recognised that last name. 

“He works with me at the minist-‘ 

Mr. Weasley was then cut off by the most peculiar sound and sight, which made you question if you were still asleep at the Burrow. A most striking teenage boy jumped down from the tree and landed next to Amos with a thud. 

“And this strapping young man must be Cedric,” Arthur stated, shaking the boy’s hand.

So that’s where you knew that name. Cedric Diggory. 

You knew it was him, not by his name, but because you’d spent hours staring at him in Herbology over the years. He was adored by every girl at Hogwarts, and you could see why. Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff quidditch team, a prefect, his perfectly sculpted jawline and cheekbones, thick eyebrows, beautiful eyes… 

“Am I right?” Arthur asks Cedric, who nods. 

“Hi,” Cedric said to the group. Everyone greeted him back, except the twins. After last year’s opening quidditch match where Gryffindor had received a thrashing from Hufflepuff, they had never really been fond of him. 

“Wonderful. Are we excited for today?” Mr. Weasley asked him, patting him on the back.

Cedric nods and smiles at the ground, probably feeling awkward being shown off to a group of strangers. You looked across to Hermione and Ginny, and shared – that – look, and of course they knew what you were on about. He was gorgeous. 

“Better get moving,” Mr. Weasley said, continuing on his way and the group then followed.

Cedric starts walking next to you, carrying himself as if he’s a bit uncomfortable. You were familiar with Cedric from quidditch and the classes you shared with the Hufflepuffs, but you knew he didn’t know who you were. He was too popular to take notice of anyone who wasn’t his friend, and you always saw him as confident and sure of himself, which made it weird to see him like this.

“Hello,” he greeted someone. You looked at him to see who he was talking to, and he was looking straight at you. It was hard not to melt into the foliage beneath you under his gaze. Was this really happening?

“Hi,” you said, a tad confused. 

“How has your break been?” he asked, most likely being polite, you thought. 

“Uh, it was okay,” you replied. “I was mainly helping my mum at her work, a lady she usually works with had a baby so she needed an extra hand.” 

Cedric smiled. “That’s very generous of you.” 

“It’s nothing, really,” you explain. “She’s a florist, and just needs an extra hand with taking orders and working in the shop.”

“Any shop I would have been to?” he questioned. “We live around here, so we only really go into places close by.” 

You shook your head. “Not unless you suddenly stumble into a muggle street in London looking for a florist,” you joked, and it made Cedric smirk. 

“Of course,” he said with a hint of sarcasm. “Muggle florists in London are a hot commodity in the Diggory family household. We’re always on the lookout.” 

You were smiling like an idiot at this point. You glanced back at Hermione and Ginny, who were whispering to each other while looking at you – obvious signs of gossiping. You then looked to Fred who had drifted from you, not paying any attention to you at all, which made your heart sink. 

“How about you, how was your break?” you asked Cedric in return, trying to distract yourself from Fred’s apparent cold shoulder.

“Pretty average,” he admitted. “Just reading and hanging out with my family. Practicing quidditch whenever I could.” 

“Sounds better than average,” you tell him honestly. 

“Nothing like working with flowers all day, I bet,” he said, his eyes now fixed on you as you looked at him. “Did you play much quidditch?” 

You thought back to the spare time you had in your break, and frowned. You realised you hadn’t touched your broom since you set it down the day you got back home from Hogwarts. 

“Not really,” you admitted. 

“Wonderful,” Cedric said jokingly. “More time for our chasers to catch up to your skill level.” 

You wanted the floor to open up and swallow you whole. You shook your head, looking down at the ground nervously. “I’m not that good.” 

“Y/N, don’t be so modest,” he insisted. “I’ve played against you before.”

Did he just say your name? Another surge of heat rose up to your cheeks, and you couldn’t stop smiling. 

The forest then began to thin out, and a clearing up a head displayed a hill in the distance. Mr. Weasley powered beyond the main group, heading straight for the hill. You wondered if that was what old age was going to be like – walking fast. 

With the group trailing behind, Mr. Weasley approached the top of the hill. Ginny ran forward, and stopped at the top, looking at something. 

“Is it over there?” Amos shouted to her. She gave a thumbs up back to him. 

Everyone around you jogged the rest of the way to the top of the hill, to what you could see was a single lace up boot. Cedric went ahead to catch up to his father.

“We don’t want to be late,” Mr. Weasley shouted to the rest of the group trailing behind. Amos and Cedric kneeled down and held the top of the boot, and Hermione and Ginny followed suit. Mr. Weasley faced the sun, looking at the time on his pocket watch.

Harry came up behind you and the twins, looking confused as ever. 

“Why’s everyone standing around that old boot?” he asked. 

“It’s not just any old boot, Harry,” Fred began to explain. It then clicked in your mind what this object was. A muggle object free of suspicion. Mr. Weasley looking at his watch for the right time. Everyone holding onto it at the same time. 

“It’s a portkey!” you and George said in sync. “Jinx!” 

You pointed fingers to catch the other off-guard, but Fred declared a draw.

You’d never used a portkey before, but you have read about them in passing, and always wondered how they worked in a practical setting. You knew they took you from one place to another, but how exactly that happened was another question all together.

“It’s time!” Mr. Weasley shouted, turning to grab the boot, and everyone else took their places around it. 

Fred squeezed your free hand. 

“Are you okay?” he whispered to you. You nod, hiding your obvious nervous feelings. 

“What’s a portkey?” Harry asked behind you.

“On three!” Amos said to the group. The anticipation was killing you. “One, two...” 

Harry was still standing behind you, and Mr. Weasley noticed, too. 

“Harry!” he shouted, motioning him to take hold of the portkey, which he did hesitantly. 

“…three!” 

A sudden gravitational force lurched you to one side, spinning you around like you were on an out of control carnival ride. Some other unknown force grabbed your navel and pulled you in the other direction, creating what felt like a slingshot with your insides. Screams from Hermione, Ginny and Harry rang in your ears, sending a deep rooted nausea through your body. A downward pull then threw your body into another orbit, where everything became somewhat still. You could see everyone else now, Mr. Weasley and Amos were laughing at the distressed teenagers in front of them, and Cedric in between them seeming very blasé about the situation. Everyone appeared against a blank environment, which you couldn’t make out.

“Let go!” Mr. Weasley then shouted above the whirring sound from the void you were in. 

“What!?” Hermione yelled back, looking like she might pass out. 

“Let. Go!” Mr. Weasley repeated. You looked to Fred, who grabbed your free hand again, and let go of the boot, pulling you with him. Your stomach dropped as the downward force pulled you again, and the consequent free-fall felt never ending. Fred’s grip on your hand felt like it was going to crush your bones. Another round of screams blared in your ears from Hermione, and out of the corner of your eye, you saw it. The ground beneath you that was now present was rapidly rising up to meet you. You anticipated a major bone shattering thud, but the ground took it easy on your body, made even easier from being cushioned by Fred’s chest.

“Sorry!” you exclaimed, feeling like your stomach may spontaneously rise up out of your mouth.

“It’s alright,” Fred replied, coughing dramatically while giving your back a rub. You rolled onto the grass beside him, still holding his hand, but without the immense force his grip had on you before. To try and steady yourself, you concentrated on the sky above you, but that didn’t help much. Above you, Mr. Weasley, Amos and Cedric came down from the sky, almost like they were walking on air. 

“Did that clear your sinuses?” Mr. Weasley chuckled and he then stepped on the ground gracefully.

“Am I dreaming?” you whispered to Fred. 

He shook his head while laughing at you. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

He then let your hand go and stood up, steadying himself so he could help you up. The group then started moving, following Mr. Weasley. 

It looked like you had been transported to a lush, green landscape, but you couldn’t pinpoint where exactly you were. It felt somewhat like you were still in the country, which was comforting. But being unable to pinpoint your location made you feel slightly anxious. 

Cedric then came up beside you. You looked at him, bewildered.

“That obviously wasn’t your first rodeo,” you commented, which made him smile. 

“That was obviously one of your first,” he said back. You put your hands over your face, trying to hide your embarrassment. 

“Was I that bad?” you asked, with feeling coming back to your face in the form of a raging heat. 

“You looked a bit pale for a second,” he told you. “But overall, I think you did good.” 

You didn’t know if you should take that as a compliment or not. 

“Do you do that a lot?” you asked him, trying to fill up the silence.

“Not a lot,” he said, trying to seem as modest as he could to try not to put you down. “But I’ve done it for years with dad.” 

“Right,” you said, realising that living with your mother in the muggle world meant that you missed out on some opportunities that other kids had while growing up around wizards and witches.  
“You’ll get better with practice,” he assured you. “That slingshot feeling in your gut will start to feel normal.”

You thought back to that feeling, and tried not to throw up. “I look forward to that,” you said, not looking forward to using a portkey any time soon. 

Walking up what felt like a mountain of a hill on your wobbly legs, you could hear noises of a crowd up ahead. Then the apex of tents and flags came into view as you got closer to the top, and the whoosh of broomsticks sounded above you, and three, four, five wizards dipped and whirled around in the air. As you came to the top of the hill, you had to stop and take the moment in.  
You hadn’t been to anything like this in all your life. Hundreds of wizards excitedly bustled around in the valley of the surrounding hills, some sitting in sling chairs with butterbeer in their hands, others chatting with friends and family or flying their flags around – red and black for Bulgaria, and green and silver for Ireland. Tents as far as the eye can see sprawled the grass in front of you and performers in stilts ten feet tall stepped in between them. Paraphernalia flew around in the air making you dizzy as you stepped into the crowd. Jugglers and firebreathers entertained the witches and wizards around them, all covered in face paint. Hermione and Ginny excitedly pointed at lion dancers and acrobats at the front of the group, and Fred, who was walking in front of you, looked back to see your reaction. 

“What do you think?” he asked you above the crowd. 

“I can’t!” you shouted back. “It’s all too amazing!” 

Next to you, Cedric grinned at your response. You wonder what he thought of all this, if it’s normal for these kinds of celebrations to be thrown, or if he’d been to similar things before. But you didn’t ask. You didn’t want to seem too much of a lost puppy. 

“I think this is where we part ways!” Amos announced to Mr. Weasley above the instruments playing in the tent text to you. He pointed to his left down a path where people in full makeup were parading around with large banners and flags.

“Alright, old chap,” Mr. Weasley shouted back, patting Amos on the back. “See you at the match.”

Cedric turned to you and leaned into your ear.

“I’ll see you later, Y/N,” he said, pulling back and grinning at you. You nodded, and he jogged to catch up with his father. 

“See you later, Cedric!” George called after him. Fred elbowed him in the side, which made George double over.

Hermione and Ginny looked at you, gobsmacked. And suddenly, you wished later would be right now.


	3. The Quidditch World Cup

“Here we are, kids,” Mr. Weasley announced, walking up to a rather small looking A-frame tent. “Home, sweet home.”

You were confused, to say the least. There were eight of you standing around this tent made for two people of below average height, and, unless it was concealing a bottomless pit, there was no way you were all going to fit in. But after going through the whirlwind of the portkey this morning, you’d learned to trust Mr. Weasley with whatever was about to happen. Was it enchanted in some sort of way? Like bigger on the inside, smaller on the outside? Maybe it’s -

“Extension charm,” Hermione whispered behind you. You turned to her, and nodded in agreement, just thinking of what she was about to say.

Mr. Weasley held out the fabric covering the entrance and motioned the group to enter. Fred and George eagerly went first, crouching to accommodate the small space. You took a deep breath, and without thinking followed the twins into the tent.

Now this, you thought, was some other kind of magic. For what the tent lacked in size on the outside, it made up for it inside. It looked to be around the size of a single story house, with gold and white fabric forming the roof, which draped down to connect with the corners of the house. A living room, fit with burgundy armchairs, was situated in the middle of the tent, accompanied by a coffee table full of special interest books and a vase of dried out protea. Sheets of brown tapestry separated rooms surrounding the living room, fitted out with camping cots, and a kitchen and a bathroom were located in the back corners. You claimed the first room of beds for you, Hermione, and Ginny, while the other boys claimed the remaining rooms. Harry stood at the entrance, obviously fascinated by the magic of the enchanted tent, looking around with an open mouth. Fred and George occupied the dining room at the back of the tent, while Ron scurried off to the back corner.

“Ron, get out of the kitchen!” Mr. Weasley bellowed. “We’re all hungry!” 

To that, you could agree, remembering with Hermione’s persistent rushing, you didn’t get to have breakfast. You snuck into the kitchen after Ron, and quickly made a peanut butter sandwich.

“And boys,” Mr. Weasley started. “Feet off the table!” 

You looked to the twins, who both had their dirty trainers on the meticulously carved dining room table.

“Feet off the table!” they both said, mocking their father. 

You took your sandwich over to the seat next to Fred. Chewing as fast as you could, you took the last bite as inconspicuous as you could while covering your face with your hand.

“What was that?” Fred whispered to you. 

“Nothing,” you replied, swallowing the last remnants. “An on-the-road snack.” 

“Uh huh,” he said, looking at you suspiciously. “You’ve got a bit of peanut butter just here.” 

He raised his hand up to your face, and used his thumb to wipe the corner of your mouth, heat prickling at your cheeks again. George got up from the table, and snuck into the kitchen while Mr. Weasley’s back was turned the other way. 

“So,” Fred started, not making eye contact as he wiped his hand on the side of his pants. “How do you know Cedric?”

The question caught you off guard. You looked at him, obviously confused.

“Just through quidditch, and class,” you insisted. It probably sounded like a lie, the way it seemed like you and Cedric were talking as if you were good friends. 

“I’ve never seen you talk to him before,” Fred pointed out. “I didn’t know you were friends.” 

You frowned at him, and got out of your seat to leave. Fred has never acted like this before, like he was almost jealous or something. 

“We talk,” you say, even though by talk you meant that you stare at him, and for some reason Cedric knows your name. “You think I’m not cool enough to be his friend?”

“No, no, not that,” Fred insisted. He was now looking at you cautiously. “He’s just not the most easy person to make friends with, and I was just wondering how you knew him.” 

You nodded at him, and left the dining room to lay down on your new bed. 

Even from just talking about Cedric, you couldn’t stop thinking about him, and this morning. How he leaned down to you and said goodbye, his face just centimetres from yours. And how he knew your name, and had taken note of your quidditch skills. But there was another thought toying with your mind. 

Fred. 

He had held you so tight when he got back from rescuing Harry, and admitted that he had missed you over the summer. And how you were laying together this morning, feeling like there was no one else in the universe but you two. 

Your head was spinning, but for what? You knew Cedric was just being friendly, and Fred was your best friend. But you just couldn’t help yourself. 

*** 

The afternoon came around swiftly. You played several rounds of exploding snap with the twins, Bill, and Charlie, and took a walk around the campsite with them. Everyone was getting into the spirit of quidditch - wizards were dressed up in their team’s colours, dancing and singing, or just enjoying the entertainment around them. Children were running around with their friends, playing with quaffles and chasing each other around the maze of tents. You noticed as the afternoon rolled around, just how many wizards were here, and from every corner of the globe, it seemed. You then wondered just how big the quidditch stadium was going to be tonight...

The main reason for the outing, you soon realised, was to try and spot any of the players around the highly guarded and barricaded tents on the outskirts of the site, and Ireland’s seeker, Lynch, was most sought after.

“Face it, you’re not going to see him,” Charlie stated, ready to head back to the tent. 

“You never know,” George said, eagerly leaning on the barricade. 

“I do know,” Charlie retorted. “He’s probably just going to be inside his tent all day, or come out disguised as someone else.” 

“Hold on,” George said, pushing the limits of the barriers. “I think I see something.”

Several other wizards and witches your age were around these tents too, obviously fanatics of quidditch like you were, trying to catch a glimpse of their favourite player. A group of boys were sharing a pair of binoculars, trying to get a closer look into the tents. They looked like Hogwarts students, maybe in your year, maybe a bit older. You thought you recognised a Hufflepuff boy, but you brushed the thought away, and followed the group back to the tent. 

Your thoughts then wondered what Cedric was up to. Maybe he was spending time with his father, or maybe he met up with some friends, and was walking around with them like those boys had. You also wondered what it would be like if he was here with you, like he was this morning. Aimlessly walking around, looking at all the wizards dressed up or trying to find something else to do to fill in the rest of the time. But you realised this was a silly idea - he was too popular, too confident, and he had probably found something better to do than stick around awkwardly with you and the rest of the boys. And besides, you weren’t Cedric’s level of popular - you had friends, but Cedric was known and adored by everyone. He had choices - and you probably weren’t one. 

It was already late afternoon by the time you had returned to the tent. Mr. Weasley was having trouble with lighting the potbelly with a pack of matches, half of which he had already burned through. You and Hermione offered to help him, and managed to get the fire going with one strike on the box. A sudden shout from the entrance of the tent startled you. 

“Hello?” it bellowed. A large man with blonde hair poked his head into the tent, and Mr. Wealsey got to his feet. 

“Ludo! The man of the hour,” Mr. Weasley greeted, striding up to him to shake his hand. He motioned Ludo in, and he waved at the group in the living room. You assumed the aforementioned Ludo was Ludo Bagman, the Head of Magical Games and Sports at the Ministry. Mr. Weasley introduced everyone to him, but you knew Bagman didn’t take any of it in. Percy eagerly greeted him, shaking his hand and repeating his name, and congratulated him on what a great event is about to take place, obviously trying to make a good impression. Ludo and Arthur spoke loudly, as most older men do, mainly about the game tonight and what good weather was predicted for it. 

“And say,” Ludo began. “I’ve already got a few people on board for a flutter for the match, don’t suppose you’re interested, old chap?” 

“Why not,” Mr. Weasley said, dipping into his pocket. “A Galleon on Ireland to win,”

“A Galleon?” Ludo exclaimed. “Is that it?... Alright, any other takers?” 

Fred and George scurried off to their room to discuss something. 

“They’re a bit young, don’t you think, Ludo?” Mr. Weasley suggested. 

“Nonsense,” Ludo replied. “All in the spirit of quidditch, my friend.” 

The twins came back to the room, and extended an absurd offer of what you imagined was all their savings on Ireland winning, but Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker, would get the snitch. 

“That’s impossible,” Mr. Weasley argued. “You don’t want to be betting all your savings on that.”

“And, we’ll throw in a fake wand,” Fred added. Ludo looked most impressed. 

“I haven’t seen a good one of those in a few years,” he said, smiling. “And not a chance that’ll happen either, so I can give you some good odds…” 

Mr. Weasley looked crestfallen as the boys shook hands with Ludo, locking in the deal. 

Ludo stuck around for a cup of tea, while he, Mr. Weasley and Percy spoke about Ministry happenings, which sent a lull of disinterest across the rest of the group. But a certain comment about Ludo planning something at Hogwarts with Barty Crouch, the Minister for Magic, caught everyone’s attention. 

“What’s happening at Hogwarts?” Fred asked. 

“Nothing,” Mr. Weasley replied. “You’ll find out soon enough.” 

***

By the evening, everyone had their crazy hats, face paint and scarves on - a clear divide existed between Harry and Ron, who were barracking for Bulgaria in red and black, and the rest of the group, including you, in green and grey for Ireland. In particular Fred, who had come out of the bathroom with a three leaf clover painted over his entire face. 

“What do you think?” he asked you, posing in a goofy way. 

“You look ridiculous,” you say, rolling your eyes, but you had to admit, you were impressed by its symmetry. 

He was still holding the face paint in his hands, which looked rather suspicious. 

“Now, I’m not saying we should match, because let’s be honest, I look so much better in it, but I want to give you just a little something,” he said, dipping a finger into the pot of paint. You shook your head to yourself, unable to believe you were going to trust Fred Weasley with something like this. 

“Okay, but on one condition,” you stated. Fred nodded. “Nothing stupid, or you don’t even want to know what’s coming to you.” 

“Y/N, you can trust me,” he said. He tilted your chin up with the knuckle of his index finger, and the butterflies in your stomach started rattling around. Even in his silly getup, he was still undeniably cute. He swiped the green paint across your cheek to form two parallel streaks on each side. 

“Perfect,” he said, making sure the lines were symmetrical. He wrapped his Irish flag around his shoulders, and hugged you from behind, draping the flag over you. You looked up at him, and smiled. 

You wondered if these increasingly affectionate gestures were hinting at something more. But you didn’t want to dwell on the thought - he was probably just excited for tonight. 

“Are we ready?” Mr. Weasley said as he stood in the living room. Everyone agreed, and Fred released you from his arms so you could follow the others out of the tent. 

The way to the stadium was down the lantern lit path that went into the woods. What seemed like every other wizard at the campsite was heading in the same direction, and the group merged into the crowd, and followed. A few other wizards apparated along the path with carts full of souvenirs and other quidditch goods. Harry and Ron stopped at one, and collected some loot for themselves. You realised this might be a good idea, as it’s not often you attend a world cup of anything, and stopped at the next wizard who appeared. 

“What were you thinking of getting?” Fred asked behind you. A pair of Omnioculars caught your eye - they would be extremely helpful tonight, with being able to instantly replay any moments from the match right before your eyes. 

“Maybe the Omnioculars?” you said, and the wizard at the stand nodded. You dipped into your jean pocket to get some money out, but Fred stopped you. 

“I can get them,” he insisted, and handed over a handful of coins. The wizard thanked Fred, and handed him the Omnioculars. 

“You didn’t have to do that,” you said to him. 

“Yeah, but I wanted to,” he said, handing them to you. “As long as I get to use them, too.” 

A thought then clicked in your head. 

“But where did you get the extra money for them?” you questioned, remembering that he and George just bet their life savings on Ireland winning tonight. 

“From the order sheets I sent you,” Fred explained. “We still had a few things we could fill out in the orders, and we got some extra money from those. And, I wanted to thank you somehow for keeping them. Without them, we wouldn’t have anything.” 

“You don’t have to thank me,” you said, and Fred grabbed your hand with a squeeze, and continued to hold it as you trailed behind the rest of the group. You were glad it was starting to get dark, otherwise your red cheeks would be glaringly obvious. 

The walk to the stadium sent a wave of excitement through you, and the others were obviously feeling the same. They were all laughing and joking as they walked, and you couldn’t help but smile. The walk felt long, but before you knew it you were under the tall shadow of the gigantic stadium. Mr Weasley hurried to get you all in line behind the other wizards trying to get through the gates and into the stands. Fred still held onto your hand, and squeezed it occasionally to make sure you were okay. As you approached the start of the line, he lent down to whisper to you.

“You look very pretty tonight,” he said, sending your brain into a short circuit-like reaction. All you could do was smile at him, and he smiled back, looking ever so ridiculous with that shamrock across his face. 

“Head straight up to the top to the left!” the Ministry witch shouted above the crowd as she read the tickets Mr. Weasley handed to her. “Prime seats!” 

Fred excitedly started to jog into the stadium, and pulled you along with him. And what a sight it was. 

The stadium was truly magnificent, in both size and sight. A mystical golden light surrounded the perfectly maintained pitch, and illuminated the stands projecting skyward. Thousands upon thousands of wizards and witches were already in their seats, flying flags and banners around, cheering and clapping loudly. You’ve never seen anything quite like it. 

“Stop staring, stare bear,” Fred said, and pulled you along so you wouldn’t get left behind from the group. Starting at the purple stairs ascending to the top row of the stadium, a visceral reluctancy went through you. 

“We have to get to the top?,” you complained, begrudgingly stepping up behind Fred.

“Stop your whinging,” Fred said cheekily. “We’ll be up there in minimum half an hour.”

Continuing up the stairs, you could see Mr. Weasley was stopped by a wizard around his age, but with long platinum hair as they were about to pass the Top Box. He looked intimidating, in a dark trench coat and hooked eyebrows, speaking with the corner of his mouth turned up. Mr. Weasley didn’t seem too bothered by him - he was more concerned with getting everyone to their seats. But a younger boy you did recognise, with matching platinum hair, Draco Malfoy, stood behind the menacing wizard, and you assumed that was his father. You then realised that this was a situation that you definitely didn’t want to be involved in. You hurried up the stairs, trying not to make eye contact with Draco. 

The group continued to move up. Passing the entrance to the Top Box, you wondered what it’s be like in there, and most of all who was in there - was some sort of Wizarding royalty just metres from you, or was it just Ministry people, like Mr. Weasley’s coworkers? Maybe Ludo was in there, getting more people to put money on the game - probably more than Mr. Weasley put on it, by the looks of the exclusivity of the red curtains drawn to block nosey people like you out. 

As you climbed higher up in the stands, the stairs became narrower lengthwise, and taller, which made you nervous. Falling from this height would not only be dangerous, but extremely embarrassing. But you were almost at the top, and there were only 2 more flights of stairs left. All you had to do was not think about looking back… 

And just as you did, your left foot missed the next step up, causing you to fall forward onto your hands. You quickly tried to get up, and a hand from the person behind you held the small of your back to help you. 

“Are you okay, Y/N?” 

You didn’t have to look to know who was behind you, holding you steady. The hotness of your cheeks and scrunched up face also made it obvious. 

“Uh, yeah, thank you, Cedric,” you said, wishing you would dissolve into the night air. He continued to hold your back as you took your first few steps, and then let go. This whole stair thing just became a whole lot more nerve wracking. 

The final step up came as a relief. You held the railing with your dear life as you followed Fred along the stand to your designated places, and Cedric was trailing behind you. Finally being able to stop climbing and levering your body up sent a relief through your now wobbly legs. As Fred came to a stop, you stood next to him and gasped at the sight before you. The golden light seemed even more mystical now against the dark night sky, and the 3 hoops at either end were standing tall in front of the thousands of wizards in the towering stands before you. It took your breath away. 

Cedric came up beside you, his mouth open in awe. 

“This might be the coolest thing I’ve been to,” he said to you, laughing in disbelief. 

You smiled at him, and assumed Amos would be with him, but as you looked next to him, he was nowhere to be seen. 

“I thought you might be with your dad,” you said to him over the crowd. “Is he…” 

“He’s in the Minister’s box,” he said back to you, confirming your suspicions. “I saw you walk past and I thought it might be more fun to be able to talk to someone rather than be stuck in there with old Ministry people all night.” 

“Cedric!” Mr. Weasley exclaimed, squeezing behind everyone to shake his hand, which he did so vigorously. “I thought I heard your voice. Needed some fresh air I assume?” 

“Minister’s box is a bit too claustrophobic for me,” Cedric replied, smiling politely. 

“I bet,” Mr. Weasley said, starting to squeeze back to his place. “I’m sure Y/N will be just fine company tonight.” 

You turned beet red under your green face paint. 

“I bet she will,” Cedric shouted back, obviously seeing the embarrassment on your face. You stood facing forward to avoid eye contact with him. Cedric greeted Fred and George, but they were stunned mullets, doing their best to ignore him.

“Are they okay?” Cedric asked you. You nodded, hoping your red face had turned down a few shades to a pale pink. 

“Just a bit timid around strangers,” you explained, and Cedric laughed. 

He handed you a folded piece of parchment, which he explained was the program for tonight. You thanked him, and could feel him looking over your shoulder as you opened it up. He was so close that you could feel him exhaling on your neck, which sent goosebumps along your arm. 

“It should be starting soon,” he stated, looking at the schedule on the right hand page. On the other page, official pictures of the two teams showed them all stern-faced, posing with what you assumed were sponsored brooms. 

“Still got Ireland picked to win?” he asked you, taking note of your green attire. 

“I mean, the line up for the chasers is very promising,” you state, observing Mullet, Troy and Moran posed in the Irish team photo. You flicked your eyes down to the Bulgarian team photo. “But Krum....” 

“Krum,” Cedric agreed. He was one of the youngest seekers in the league, and was extremely good - a genius, some have called him. And for good reason. “But a good seeker is nothing without a good team.”

You laughed at Cedric, remembering the horrific game Hufflepuff played against Slytherin last year. “Speaking from experience?” 

Cedric scoffed audibly, making Fred look over at him. “I set myself up for that one, didn’t I?” 

“No hard feelings,” you say, smirking. “We’ll just have to pay you back for that opening match last year.” 

“If Potter can catch me,” he whispered into your ear, just in case Harry could hear him. You shook your head, laughing. Above the noise, you could hear the slight sound of wind rushing.   
“What’s that noise?” Fred asked you, seeing you just as confused. It sounded like something was whooshing towards you, almost like... 

Five, six, seven brooms zoomed over your heads, leaving a trail of green and silver smoke behind them. The rest of the crowd were onto it too now, and the green section of the stadium roared as the brooms then flew out of formation, making way for a firework display which transformed into a dancing leprechaun. Fred and George next to you were jumping and hollering, pointing out the members of the Irish team. Fred grabbed your hand, and held it up with his, yelling loudly. He looked at you and smiled. 

“This is wicked!” he said into your ear, and you smiled back. 

You put your Omnioculars up to the bridge of your nose, and had a look at all the players as they came back into formation, circling around the stadium. Suddenly, the dancing leprechaun in the sky dissipated into the sky in a burst of red sparks, and players in burgundy robes flew through the display and into the stadium 

“Here’s the Bulgarians!” Fred shouted excitedly. Their intimidating presence sent chills down your spine as they zoomed around the stadium, eliciting a roar from the crowd. One player came out in front on what you could see was a Firebolt - one of the newer and fastest brooms out there, performing a handstand as he flew at tremendous speed.

“Is that Krum?” you asked Fred, pointing to the player. Fred grabbed your omnioculars and nodded as he looked through them, pressing buttons on the eyepieces to reverse the footage.   
“That’s him, alright,” he confirmed. “Best seeker in the world right there.” 

You took the omnioculars back and looked properly. Krum was sullen and pale, but big for his age, making it hard to believe he was actually eighteen. He stopped in mid air, which elicited a chant of his name from the crowd. He then returned back to his team on their side of the pitch, and the crowd settled back into a cheer. 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice suddenly boomed around the stadium over the crowd. It echoed so far that you wondered how they were keeping the noise contained. “Welcome to the four hundred and twenty second quidditch world cup.” 

A small man then came out of the stadium onto the pitch, with a raggedy broomstick and a large leather briefcase. He was followed by a few more wizards dressed in referee robes, who mounted broomsticks and took their places all over the stadium, some by the goals and others on the sides. The first man stood down on the pitch with his broom next to him, and the briefcase he was holding now laying open on the pitch, displaying quidditch balls. The players then assembled themselves above him, and steadied themselves in anticipation. Fred grabbed your hand tightly, as if he was also down there, feeling the same anticipation. 

“Let the match begin!” 

*** 

Back at the tent, everyone was still buzzing from the match - Ireland had beaten Bulgaria, even though Krum had caught the snitch, and because of that, Ludo had come around to the tent earlier to give the twins their hefty winnings. Fred and George were now in the living room dancing with you, taking turns spinning you around and trying their hardest to waltz while singing the Irish club song. Hermione and Ginny were giggling at you as they sipped cups of tea. Charlie and Bill, who were watching from the dining room, invited them up to join in the dancing, and they began to laugh even harder as the older boys took their hands and glided across the room with them. Harry and Ron sat slumped in the armchairs, obviously defeated by Bulgaria’s loss, and Percy and Mr. Weasley sat by the fire, unbothered by everything going on around them. 

The rest of the night was good - you spoke with Cedric all night about your new N.E.W.T subjects, and realised you were going to have a very similar timetable to his. You talked about a lot of other things, some of which you couldn’t remember - you were a little bit too busy staring at his lovely eyes… But you realised, under his confident exterior, he was extremely easy to get along with (which you guessed is why he is so popular), and you had a lot in common with each other. And as an added bonus, he could meet your sense of humour, and you found yourself laughing quite a bit when you weren’t glued to the most intense parts of the game. And as the match ended, he said he had to get back to the Minister’s box to catch his father. 

“I guess the next time I’ll see you is at school,” he said, as he was about to leave. “Thanks for keeping me company tonight.” 

“No worries,” you said as casually as you could to hide the fact that you didn’t want him to leave. 

“Alright,” he said, and took your hand in a light grip. “Don’t go falling down these stairs without me.” 

You nodded, trying not to get embarrassed again, and he let your hand go as he disappeared into the crowd moving out of the stadium. A stupid grin has been on your face ever since. 

The tent felt alive at night - the potbelly, now expertly lit by Mr. Weasley with one strike of a match, was beaming a wonderful heat throughout the rooms, and the soft light from the oil lamps added a homely warmth to the place. It felt like the Burrow away from the Burrow, something that you truly missed over the summer. And as you looked at everyone around the room, dancing and laughing, you could tell everyone felt the same. And you never wanted it to end. 

But just like that, a loud explosion sounded outside the tent. Mr. Weasley perked up, and headed outside to inspect the noise.

“Sounds like the Irish are having a bit too much fun,” Fred laughed as he spun you around. Mr. Weasley then came back in as quickly as he left, looking extremely panicked.

“It’s not the Irish,” he said, starting to direct everyone to the entrance. 

You looked to Fred, who could see the fright in his father’s eyes, and put his arm around your shoulder. 

“We have to get out of here,” Mr Weasley stressed. “Now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a little bit longer than expected but just to make up for not posting in a while! I'm a bit busy and had some issues with my computer since I posted the last chapter, but I hope I can get the next few chapters out sooner rather than later. Thank you for taking the time to read this - I'm really enjoying writing it, and I have some exciting plans for where the story is going!


	4. Death Comes Marching

_It’s the Death Eaters! Get out of here, now!_

The singing and cheering from the crowd a few moments ago had turned into blood curdling screams and deafening cries for help. You stood frozen at the entrance of the tent with the others, unable to process anything except the chill the night air sent down your spine. The sights were dizzying, the sounds unsettling.

It didn’t feel real. 

Were there actual Death Eaters here? 

Fire and smoke rose up towards the night sky, casting an ominous red glow across the campsite. Tents that stood earlier this afternoon were now skeletons, ruined, the burnt remains of their tarps lay underneath the bare structures. Other tents were just catching alight as the Death Eaters marched through the campsite. Wizards were coming from every direction, scrambling to trying to find their way to safety. Every which way you turned, all hope looked lost - children, oblivious to the dangers, being cradled in their parent’s arms, and the eldery, held by their sons and daughters moving as fast as they could. Packs of Ministry wizards cast spells that hit tents with deafening booms, while others directed everyone away from danger. It looked like a scene out of those old war movies you would watch with your mum - the ones where no one made it out alive. 

The group stood frazzled. Panic began to rise in them as they turned in every direction looking for a way out of the campsite. Fred grabbed your hand with a tight grip, and you held Ginny’s in the other. Bill, Charlie and Percy began chasing after the Ministry wizards with their wands out, who you could tell felt as terrified as everyone else. 

“Alright, everyone stick together!” Mr. Weasley shouted at the group. “Fred and George, Ginny is your responsibility. We’re going to help the Ministry!” 

He ran after the older boys, and disappeared in the crowd. Fred let your hand go, and took the lead with George, sprinting in the general direction everyone else was going - towards the forest. You held Ginny’s hand with a forceful grip, but you couldn’t tell who was holding who tighter. It was hard to keep up with the twins as you zig zagged around the other wizards cutting in front of you. The smoke from the fires behind you burned your nostrils and clawed at your eyes. You could feel Hermione, Ron and Harry were just on your heels, which was reassuring, but each time Fred and George’s heads were concealed from view, a pang of fear rippled through your veins. You kept running until you made it to the path you went down to get to the stadium, although the lanterns that were once bright, were now out. 

Then, above the noise, you heard Hermione scream behind you, something inaudible, maybe a name? 

You glanced behind you as you kept up with Ginny, and saw Hermione with her back turned next to Ron. You then realised why she was screaming, and who for. 

You couldn’t see Harry anymore.

You stopped to go back to help them, but Ginny pulled you forward, unaware of what was happening. You looked back to check on them, but they became consumed by the swarm behind you.

You kept running, regardless of the tightness in your chest begging you to stop. You looked ahead, but you still couldn’t recognise the twins. The woods were becoming closer and closer, and more and more fear filled your body as you realised you’d lost them. 

“Can you see anyone?” you asked Ginny, as you swivelled your head around, trying to recognise any sign of the twins. She slowed down to a walk as she came to the entrance of the woods.

“I don’t think so,” she said, pushing past wizards to weave her way through.

The crowd, you began to understand, was large - so large that you began to accept that you might not find them. You kept looking at faces, trying to make something, anything click. But it was too dark now, and the faces illuminated by lumos-lit wands were becoming less and less recognisable.

“They’d be after the Muggleborns,” you heard someone say, which unsettled your core - you only knew of one muggleborn, and you lost her back in the stampede. An invisible hand twisted your stomach around as you remembered her high-pitched scream as you left Hermione behind. “Sick freaks.” 

As the crowd became thinner towards the back, you became even more worried as faces were all starting to look the same. You prayed that even though you might not find the twins, or Harry, Ron and Hermione, that they’d make it back to the tent alive. A hand then grabbed your shoulder, and you jumped out of your skin. 

It was Cedric. 

“Oh thank God,” you sighed, almost in tears. He looked weathered - bugging eyes, hair clinging to his forehead with sweat, red cheeks. But you could also tell he looked relieved to find you and Ginny. In a dazed moment, you wrapped your arms around him without thinking. You realised then what you had done, and felt highly embarrassed, but he didn’t seem to mind - he hugged you back, tightly. 

“Fred and George are looking for you both,” he said, concerned. “Are you okay?” 

You nodded, tears about to flood your eyes as he mentioned their names. “Are they here?” 

“Yes,” Cedric confirmed, taking your hand. “Let’s go and find them, okay?” 

Ginny grabbed your other hand, and you both followed Cedric along the edge of the crowd. 

You couldn’t bring yourself to speak. You were so overwhelmed by everything - the fires, the screams, losing sight of Harry and the twins. You couldn’t even begin to process anything - it all just played over and over in your mind, and didn’t show any signs of stopping. If you were to open your mouth, you thought, you wouldn’t be able to hold back the tears any longer. 

Cedric stopped at a rather large tree next to an intersecting path to the different stadium gates.

“We said we’d meet back here,” he said, directing you to sit down. “They’ll be here soon.” 

You nodded, and took Ginny over to the tree. She sat next to you, and rested her head on your shoulder. 

“They’ll be here soon,” you repeated to her, and she nodded. Cedric stood a few metres in front of you, looking out for any signs of Fred or George.

The wizards around you were obviously shaken - sitting together like you were with Ginny, huddled around each other. Families and friends sat together, bug-eyed, waiting for any sign that everything was going to be okay. The orange glow of the valley was now in your line of sight, burning bright against the night sky, the dense smell of smoke still lingering in the air. 

“What happened to the others?” Ginny asked you softly. 

You thought back to that moment again, when you stopped to help Hermione - how she screamed for Harry in such a way that would stick with you for a long time. You wondered what would’ve come of them if you had managed to help, and tears began to roll down your cheeks.

“I don’t know,” you told Ginny, who tensed up at your words. 

Your stomach became heavy as you realised you weren’t sure how much longer this was going to go on for - it could be until the morning, you then thought. And that was nearly seven hours away, which sounded like an eternity. 

Around ten minutes had passed, you estimated, when Cedric perked up and set off towards the crowd in front of you. He disappeared, but then you saw something, something unbelievable.  
It was George. You sprung up onto your feet with the little amount of energy you had left in you, and went towards him, more tears falling down your already tear-stained face. 

George’s face looked extremely relieved as he recognised you and Ginny. He smiled, and enveloped you both into a hug. You sighed against him, and he kissed the tops of your heads.

“We were so worried,” he said. “We didn’t know what happened, one minute we were all together and then the next…” He trailed off, and a look of guilt came over his face. “I’m so sorry.”  
“It’s okay,” Ginny said, hugging her brother again. “You’re here now.” 

You looked into the crowd again, but still couldn’t see Cedric, or Fred. 

“Is Fred okay?” you asked George with concern. 

“Yeah,” he replied, and it felt like all your tears had magically sunken back into your eyes. “He was just..” 

It felt like your mind was playing tricks on you, and you couldn't fully believe anything they were taking in. 

You looked behind George to the crowd, and saw him. 

You couldn’t believe your eyes, but your legs could, and they carried you to him as quickly as they could. He ran up to you, and bundled you in his arms. You wrapped your arms around his neck, and sighed into him, laughing slightly in disbelief. He felt shaky and cold, and his breath was caught in his throat. 

“I’m so sorry,” he apologised into your shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Y/N.” 

You felt his stiff arms squeeze your torso even tighter. “It’s okay,” you whispered, stroking his hair. “Ginny is okay, too.” 

His head perked up and looked to Ginny behind you. He sighed against your body, and buried his face in your shoulder again.

“Thank you,” he whispered. You gave him one last squeeze, and he headed over to Ginny.

Cedric came up beside you as you watched the small family reunion. You looked at him, and smiled. 

“Thank you,” you said, choking on the lump in your throat. He smiled with one side of his mouth. 

“You don’t have to thank me,” he said modestly. “I’m just glad we managed to find you.”

You both sat back down with the others. You felt somewhat relieved now, and you could tell Ginny did too. But the overwhelming tension in the air from the people around you wouldn’t let you go.

It was around the one hour mark when the glow of the campsite began to subside, and you could see wizards beginning to move from the forest back down the path. A green glow you suspected from the smoke-clouded moon illuminated the trees around you.

“What’s happening?” Ginny asked. Cedric got to his feet to get a better view.

“Just stay here until I come back,” he instructed the group. You nodded, and he moved forward through the crowd. 

“Why do we have to listen to him?” Fred asked sourly, folding his arms like an annoyed child. 

“Come on, Fred,” George said in frustration. 

“I didn’t want him to help in the first place,” Fred argued. 

“Well, if it wasn’t for him,” George started. “We might not have found these two.” 

Fred then went quiet, probably realising that he was being ridiculous. You didn’t say anything, mainly because you knew not to come between them, and arguing with Fred was like talking to a brick wall - you never got anywhere when his stubborn side came out. 

Cedric then came back to the group.

“They’ve given the all clear to get back to the campsite,” he said, and started moving with the other wizards. 

His words didn’t feel real at all - you thought you’d be stuck out here all night until the morning. It was another relief, that the danger everyone around you was facing was now seemingly gone, but you still felt tense with worry for the others. 

You helped Ginny up, and started walking with the twins, much closer this time. They made sure to look back every so often to assure themselves you were still there. It felt almost silent walking back with the crowd, the only real sounds coming from footsteps moving through the dirt and grass. It was like everyone was holding their breath until they could be sure that everything was going to be okay. 

Cedric stood waiting at the edge of the forest for the group, and started to walk with you again. 

“Do you want to come back to ours, Ced?” George asked him, and you could tell Fred was tensing up at this proposition.

“Uh, it’s okay,” Cedric mumbled. You then realised that his father would probably be out with the other Ministry wizards. “Some friends have offered to let me stay with them for the time being.”

“All good, mate,” George said. 

As you came to the entrance of the campsite, all you could see was desolation. Smoke from the ash below you swirled around the ground. Some tents were completely burnt, only their structure remaining, others still in good nick. The crowd seemed calmer than before - walking instead of haphazardly running everywhere, and talking instead of yelling. You could see out to the meadow where the portkey took you this morning that groups of people were now huddled in a line, trying to get out of this place. Cedric then said goodbye, and left the group in a hurry. 

You found your way back to the tent, and felt sheer relief when you could see it still standing. George started jogging towards it, and poked his head in. He then signalled you all over, and you entered. Bill, Charlie and Percy were inside, all sitting around the dining table in the back. Bill was cradling his arm with some sort of white sheet, now stained red. Charlie looked okay for the most part, but sported a large rip in his t-shirt. Percy held up a tissue to his nose, which looked extremely bruised and bloody. You were relieved to see them, but soon realised that Hermione, Harry and Ron weren’t there. They all looked up at once, and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. 

“Oh my god,” Charlie gasped. “Is everyone okay?”

“We’re okay,” Fred replied. “What happened to you guys?” 

Charlie looked to his brothers, bloodied and bruised.

“We helped the Ministry try and secure the area,” he began. “We don’t really know what happened, but they believe that a muggle was killed.” 

“What?” Ginny exclaimed. “How do you know?” 

Charlie looked to his brothers, and they shrugged. 

“May as well tell them,” Bill said, adjusting his arm. Charlie nodded. 

“The Dark Mark,” Charlie began to explain. “They always cast it into the sky when they kill someone.” 

A chill went through your body. You’d never seen The Dark Mark before, but you’d heard about it in passing, hearing stories about when You-Know-Who was around. Was that what the green light was above you?

“But they’re trying to find whoever cast it right now,” Percy added. “And when it went up, every single one of them dissaparated. So they’re not sure what’s going on.” 

“Are Ron and the others back?” George asked. “And where’s Dad?”

“We don’t know,” Bill replied. “We thought the others would be with you.” 

“They were,” George admitted. “But we got separated.” 

Charlie nodded, and looked down at his feet. The way he looked right now was how you were all feeling, too - exhausted, guilty, tired. Ginny left the living room to go to your shared room, and pulled the curtain for privacy. You headed to the kitchen to make tea, and Fred followed to help. You filled the kettle up and placed it on the camp stovetop as he leant on the kitchen bench. 

“Are you okay?” he whispered to you. You didn’t want to lie and say that you were fine, because the truth was you were extremely worried about the others, whether they’d make it back in time, or at all. But you didn’t want him to worry about you - his younger brother and his dad were both nowhere to be found, and he felt guilty about leaving Ginny behind. He had enough to deal with.

“You know...” you started, and tears started welling up in your eyes uncontrollably. Fred noticed, and enveloped you in his arms again. You felt safe here - warm, protected, like nothing could hurt you. You stayed like that for a while, just you two in the dark kitchen with the kettle heating up. You slumped down to the kitchen floor, and Fred came down next to you. 

“I know I already said it,” he whispered. “But thank you for taking care of Ginny.” 

You looked up at him. “It’s okay.” 

“No, I mean it. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know what would’ve happened to her tonight. I don’t even know what happened. All I can remember is just running, running to the woods, and then we got there and we couldn’t see you.” 

You couldn’t bring yourself to remember what had happened earlier that night. It all felt too much, and you didn't want to re live it just yet. 

“We’re safe now,” you said, and Fred leaned his head on your shoulder and began to trace your hand with his index finger. You sat quietly with each other, waiting for the hiss of the kettle. 

Charlie got up suddenly, and poked his head out of the tent. He was talking to someone, maybe a friend or colleague. You didn’t think much of it until you saw Mr. Weasley come into the tent. Fred got up, and went over to him, and then, you couldn’t believe anything our eyes were seeing. 

“Hermione!” you cried, and went up to her, hugging her tightly. “Are you alright?” 

“We’re okay,” she told you. Harry and Ron came in after her. Both looked unharmed, but very much shaken. 

“Did you get them?” Bill asked his father. Mr. Weasley shook his head. 

“We found Mr. Crouch’s elf at the scene with Harry’s wand,” he began. “But we don’t know who conjured it.” 

A roar erupted from everyone. An elf conjured the Dark Mark? 

“That’s impossible,” Percy exclaimed. 

“We know,” Mr. Weasley said. “The Ministry found these lot too, and I had to explain that they wouldn’t do such a thing.” 

They then began to describe what happened to them - how Harry had become separated from the group, and the others went back for him. They encountered Draco Malfoy again, who basically confirmed that his father was one of the ones under the black hoods. They then retreated into the woods where they thought everyone else was, but they were alone. They then found Crouch’s elf, Winky, and Ludo, who suddenly disappeared. And that’s when they heard the voice, and saw the mark - and the Ministry wizards. Mr. Crouch interrogated them, but they explained that someone else did it. Mr. Diggory came back with Winky, holding Harry’s wand. He accuses Winky of conjuring the mark, but Mr. Weasley said that the spell was only a wizard spell, and only people associated with You-Know-Who knew how to conjure it. 

“Did Mr. Crouch fire her?” Percy asked. “Because he is in his rights to get rid of an elf like that, wandering around on her own.” 

“She didn’t do anything!” Hermione snapped, and Percy looked astonished at her outburst. They then began to argue, and Ron jumped in to stop it.

“Can someone just explain what is going on?” he asked. “What was that green snake and skull in the sky?”

Hermione and Mr. Weasley began to explain it to him - how You-Know-Who had used it for years after he had killed someone, and how it looked like a symbol of his return. The discussion continued as they explained to Harry who the Death Eaters were, and why everyone was so frightened. You zoned out for most of the conversation, exhausted from the stress on your body and mind. 

“It’s getting late,” Mr. Weasley stated. “We should all try and get some rest. We’ll get a portkey out of here first thing, so be ready.” 

You nodded, and followed Hermione into your room, but not before Fred caught your arm. 

“Will you be okay?” he asked you with a concerned look on his face. You nodded, and hugged him goodnight.

*** 

You were already lying awake in your bed by the time Mr. Weasley came around to wake you up. You got dressed quietly, and packed the rest of your things in your bag. The group moved quietly to the portkey, hoping to not wake any other sleeping tents. An old tire lay on the grassy hill, and you all held onto it for a few minutes before the gut wrenching sling-shot feeling brought you back to the hill where you departed yesterday morning. Walking down through the woods, you could see the Burrow up ahead through the trees. Mr. Weasley took the lead down the laneway, with the older brothers just behind him. You walked just behind them with Hermione and Ginny, and the rest of the boys behind you. Everyone was still quiet, some making small comments to each other here and there, but you guessed that the toll last night took on everyone was still very present. 

“How are you going?” Fred asked as he came up beside you. You managed to smile, but with clouded eyes. 

“I’m okay,” you said to him. He grabbed your hand, and squeezed it. 

“We’ll be home soon,” he assured you. The thought of being back at the Burrow was at least something good to look forward to. 

As you approached the front steps, Mrs. Weasley peeked her head out behind the wooden door, and her face looked utterly relieved. 

“Thank goodness you’re all okay!” she said, bringing her husband into a long hug. “I saw the Daily Prophet this morning, and I was so worried!” 

“We’re all okay, Molly,” Mr. Weasley assured her. She took a look at Percy’s nose and Bill’s arm, and shrieked. 

“All okay?!” she exclaimed. “This doesn’t look like ‘all okay’ to me!!” 

“It’s alright, mum,” Bill said, and kissed his mother on the cheek. “Nothing you can’t fix.” 

She hurried the two boys into the kitchen to get their injuries on the mend. 

Everyone remained downstairs, eager to get some breakfast that Mrs. Weasley had prepared in anticipation of the group’s return. Wafts of pancakes and bacon filled your nose as you walked through the living room, but you just weren’t that hungry. You headed upstairs instead, and put your things down in Ginny’s room and sat on the end of the bed. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see a black shadow stalking around the room, coming out from under the bed. It sprung up onto the bed, and went over to your lap.

“Hey, Beetle,” you cooed, as she rubbed her face on your hand. You flopped down on the bed, and she curled up next to you, purring loudly as she nuzzled your cheek. You didn’t realise it much as you were walking back, but your eyelids felt extremely heavy. You fought to keep them open, but the meditative sounds of Beetle’s purrs and the exhaustion you felt from the night before made them close over. And before you knew it, you were out like a light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the continued support, it means a lot to me :)))))) and sorry this took so long to upload!!


	5. Flourish and Blotts

The week following the quidditch world cup felt strange. The usually lively and warm Burrow had dulled down to a whisper of its usual self, where the mornings promised something delicious for breakfast as the smell wafted up the stairs and woke you from your sleep. You would spend your day with Fred and George, doing anything that sprung to their minds to ease the feeling of boredom. By the afternoon, you could guarantee the oldest brothers would instigate a small game of quidditch out the back in the orchard, which would exhaust you all to no end as you zoomed around on your broomsticks until the sun went down, not sticking to any of the official rules. Mrs. Weasley would get angry as you all trudged through the kitchen with dirty clothes and trainers, but she couldn’t hide her smile seeing her kid’s toothy grins and tired eyes. Dinner was always spent together as a family. Endless creations of hearty and comforting meals were conjured up before your eyes, filling up the pots and bowls along the middle of the dining table. After dessert, you, Hermione and Ginny all remained in the kitchen to help tidy up and make cups of tea. Mrs. Weasley was always grateful for the help, sending you to bed with some extra sweets or chocolate as a way to thank you. After everyone went upstairs to bed, you stuck around with Fred next to the fireplace. You’d talk and joke with each other, and share your loot of sweets with him, which he was always jealous of. And more recently, he’d hold your hand or lay his head on your shoulder absentmindedly before you heard the footsteps of someone coming down to collect something they had forgotten, which made you jump apart awkwardly. You didn’t want anyone getting the wrong idea, and obviously Fred didn’t want that either, but this made you more confused by his signals. You’d kiss him on the cheek and say goodnight while he stayed down to extinguish the fire. And before you knew it, you were lulled into a deep sleep as Beetle snuggled down on your pillow, purring.

But there wasn’t any of that this week. 

Mr. Weasley and Percy were at the ministry each day, leaving early in the morning and coming home late at night, overworked and overtired. Each day the Daily Prophet updated any new revelations on the world cup, which you knew didn’t have a lot to do with Mr. Weasley’s department, but his overtime hours indicated otherwise. Percy was stressed as ever, coming home after you had all gone to bed, scurrying up to his room and staying up all hours of the night. Ginny woke up shrieking in the night a few times, to which you and Hermione tended to her, hugging her and stroking her hair to calm her down, and then fell asleep on her bed. You also had vivid dreams each night which recounted the events of the world cup, but you woke yourself up before your brain started to obsess over replaying the memories it stored. Everything Mrs. Weasley cooked smelt how you remembered, but there was something different, something missing that you couldn’t quite put your finger on. You tried your best to help Mrs. Weasley with dinner each night to ease her workload, but even that couldn’t bring back the sweet smell of pot roast or beef wellington that comforted you like nothing else. She was awfully quiet as she cooked, her brows furrowed as she concentrated on the jobs at hand, which worried you - she usually waltzed around the kitchen benches, flicking her wand at different crockery and bowls which magically started stirring or bubbling away. You realised after the first few nights when she set the table for Mr. Weasley and Percy what she was stressed about, and why the food seemed off - she was worried about her son and her husband. You couldn’t forget the taste after that. 

Everyone kept to themselves for the first few days, except for meals. You tried to be as normal as you could after you woke up after your nap, but it was draining to pretend to be happy when all you wanted to do was crawl into a hole for a few days. Everyone’s faces were exhausted and weathered, eyes sunken in and eyelids heavy. Hermione and Ron seemed to be bickering more than usual when you saw them, which you soon realised was rooted in the arrest of the house elf Winky the night of the world cup.

“She’s an elf,” Hermione would argue. “She’s got just as much claim to rights as we do.” 

“Hermione, I think you need to relax,” Ron said, trying to calm her down. “It’s not a big issue.” 

Hermione blew up at this statement, and continued on her tangent. You had to admit, you admired her commitment to the cause, and you did agree with her about the treatment of house elves, but the added stress of the previous events seemed to amplify her temper up ten notches. 

For the following days you and Ginny stuck together as you had that night, coming to a silent agreement that no conversation needed to happen when you were together, which you both appreciated. You sat in the living room most days, reading one of Charlie’s books about dragons that he recommended to you while drinking tea. He had written out an extensive list of book titles for you that he thought you might enjoy, which you observed eagerly, thanking him for the suggestions. He sat with you two most afternoons, writing in a ‘top secret notebook’ for work. 

“If it’s so top secret,” Ginny started. “Why are you doing it out here?” 

Charlie managed a smile at his sister. “You’ll know everything in this here notebook, all in due time.” 

Fred and George kept to themselves upstairs in their room, coming down every now and then to not seem suspicious to their mother - Fred has informed you that their Weasley Wizard’s Wheezes project had now gone underground.

“We’ve got a few more people interested,” Fred whispered to you the first lunch you had back at the Burrow. “So we’re trying to come up with ways to get it to them, and George has come up with some more product ideas.” 

“That’s amazing,” you said with the most enthusiasm you could muster, and Fred smiled back appreciatively. You wished that you got to see him more over the week, but you knew that this venture was going to take up a bit of his time, and respected that he was doing something constructive with his time. You just missed seeing those big brown eyes all the time...

***

Friday afternoon rolled around before you even realised it. Each day was becoming one huge extended period of time that blurred into one another before you could even think about doing anything. Even Beetle, who now enjoyed going out the back with Crookshanks to chase and pounce the gnomes, stayed inside most of the time next to you, sleeping. You laid on your stomach on one of the living room sofas propped up by your elbows while you read _Dragon Breeding: For Pleasure and Profit._ Charlie, Bill and Ginny sprawled out on the floor below you, staring up at the ceiling, not really talking, but not exactly silent, either. Fred and George had come down from their room to watch Harry and Ron play a round of Wizard’s Chess on a small coffee table near the front door - a ‘best of 3’ tournament, you gathered. They egged the boys on to perform moves that would make them lose, but Harry and Ron weren’t listening. You looked up from your book to catch a glance at Fred, but as you looked at him, you saw that he was already staring at you. His eyes flitted away as you met his gaze, and his cheeks turned a slight pink shade, making you smile to yourself. What was he so embarrassed about, you thought. Hermione held Crookshanks in her arms as she sat on the first step of the staircase, trying her best not to look as interested in the game as you could see she was. You could’ve fooled yourself into thinking that this could be a normal afternoon at the Burrow, but you could tell that everyone was a little less cheery than usual. 

As you finished the chapter on Swedish Short Snouts, a loud commotion made you jump out of your skin. Charlie and Bill bolted upright, confused - it was coming from the kitchen, and you could hear Mrs. Weasley squealing. 

“Mum?” Bill yelled, and bolted into the kitchen. The others followed him to see what was happening. 

Smoke filled the kitchen as loud bangs, pops and fizzes sounded around different locations, sending orange and yellow sparks flying everywhere.

“It was one of those ruddy fake wands!” she exclaimed over the crackling noise, trying to let the objects out the back garden. “They turned my capsicums into bloody firecrackers!” 

You could hear Fred and George sniggering behind you, and you rolled your eyes. They must’ve left some around the house to test out their prototypes. Bill went into the kitchen to reach up for the firecrackers, and threw them outside where they fizzled out. 

“Alright,” Charlie said to the rest of the group at the edge of the kitchen. “Let’s go and play some quidditch.” 

***

Charlie’s idea seemed to lift everyone’s spirits greatly. It obviously wasn’t just for Mrs. Weasley’s benefit to give her some space to cool off, but everyone seemed happy to do something somewhat normal. You held your broom, a trusty Comet 260, in your slightly shaky hand as you passed through the gate to the orchard. It had been quite a while since you had ridden your broom, but you knew that it was just like riding a bicycle - something that once you learn, you never forget how to do. But then again, a bike couldn’t fly fifty metres off the ground. 

“Nervous?” Fred asked behind you. He sported his usual cheeky grin, which made your heart flutter. 

“You wish,” you said back. Everyone had mounted their brooms, and had flown past you is a whoosh. You watched them as they zoomed around, Bill and Charlie competing to try and impress everyone with their years of experience as they loop-the-looped and rolled past everyone watching. 

You mounted your broom and exhaled as you planted your feet firmly on an uneven patch of grass, probably from one of the multitude of crash landings over the years. Fred hovered on his broom next to you, and started to fly forwards. 

“Try and catch me!” he said playfully. You shook your head, and pushed off the ground. You floated for a while, trying to get your bearings again, and angled the broom up as you leant forward, sending you up towards the sky. You quickly caught up to Fred, grabbing the end of his broom and pulling it towards you to slow him down. 

“Oi!” he shouted. “That’s cheating!” 

You laughed, catching his draft to propel you further. You dipped under him and sped forward, coming up when you knew you were in front of him, and slowed down to stay floating above him.

“Did I win?” you asked him as he stopped next to you. 

“You know,” he started. “You’d be a pretty good chaser. You should try out this year.” 

You scoffed, nudging his arm to try and push him away from you. 

“You’re insufferable, Weasley,” you said, laughing. 

“Yeah,” he shrugged, and he flew under you, coming up on your other side. “But you love it.” 

You shook your head as he flew off to the others, who were being delegated teams by Charlie. You followed Fred, but more slowly this time to actually take in being on a broom again - the wind whipping your face and through your hair, the gravity and forces of the broom listening to your movements in smooth coordination, looking out at the view of the countryside all felt unreal. You missed this. You could see the surrounding neighbourhood and the rolling hills from up there. 

“Y/N!” Charlie shouted below you. “You’re on my team!” 

You shook your head to refocus on landing. You went over to Charlie, who you could see was already teamed up with Ginny and Harry. Hermione was sitting on the sidelines, probably to make teams even. 

“That’s not fair!” Ron exclaimed. “Harry, Charlie and Y/N?” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Fred and George said together. Ron didn’t dare look at his brothers. 

“Better luck next time, eh?” Charlie said to his brother, ruffling his hair. 

Bill began to explain the goal scoring for the game, pointing towards the makeshift hoops at either end of the orchard. He grabbed the quaffle from Ron’s arms, and, because there were no bludgers or snitches, this was the only way to score points. You looked over to Fred, who you could see was already looking at you, again. You poked your tongue out at him, and he poked back playfully, making you smile. 

Charlie herded you over with Ginny and Harry to have a quick team meeting after Bill explained the modified rules. 

“Alright,” he began. “I’m appointing Y/N as team captain, as she’s the most experienced Chaser here. Harry and Ginny, make sure that you’re keeping yourselves open for passes, but also stick to a player when we’re on the defence. I’ll try my best as Keeper, but I know you guys can beat those poor sods.” 

He smiled cunningly at you all, and you couldn’t help but smile back. Harry was a great Seeker - so quick and nimble, and playing Quidditch with Ginny was something you did with her when her brothers wouldn’t let her play, so you were used to her flying style. This was going to be an easy win. 

*** 

As you landed on the ground below you, you collapsed onto the uneven grass. It was now dusk, and you had played so much quidditch that you had started to get sore muscles from where you were sitting on the broom, and Hermione, the resident score keeper, had lost count. Everyone was laughing or sporting smiles on their faces, which was something you didn’t realise you had missed seeing. It made you wonder if things were going to get back to normal now. 

Mrs. Weasley hung out of the back door of the house, and waved her arms around to get your attention, shouting that dinner was going to be ready soon. Everyone got up slowly to account for their shaky legs that hadn’t been walked on for a few hours. You hung back with Fred, still laughing as you laid next to each other. 

“We totally beat you,” you exclaimed as Fred had argued that his last goal put his team ahead. 

“I really don’t think that arguing is going to make you a winner, Y/N,” he said pompously. “The facts are there.” 

“The facts are not there,” you argued. “One goal at the end of a game doesn’t automatically make you a winner.” 

“Bill said that the last goal would win,” Fred started. “And who got the last goal? Oh yeah, me.” 

You rolled your eyes at him, and sat up. 

“Come on,” you said, grabbing your broom. “Dinner is going to get cold.” 

He grabbed your arm before you could get to your feet. 

“Can’t we just stay here for a bit?” he said, looking at you with puppy-dog eyes. “I can’t move my legs.” 

You shook your head. “You heard what your mum said-” 

Somehow, Fred had manoeuvred your arm in such a way that he had scooted you over to him to bring you into a constricting hug on top of him. 

“Hey!” you exclaimed, laughing. He squeezed you even tighter so you couldn’t wiggle your way out, which you were trying to do. “Come on, I’m hungry!” 

“Hi hungry, I’m Fred,” he said, trying to mock your tone. You tried to shimmy out again, and he finally relaxed his grip on you so you could get out. 

“You’re terrible,” you laughed, collapsing onto your back again. Fred propped his head up on his hand to look at you. 

“Don’t be such a sore loser,” he joked, prodding your side with his other hand, sending you into a laughing fit. 

“I’m not,” you said. Even in the dim light of the setting sun, his eyes still seemed to sparkle like how you remembered. His floppy red hair fell across one of them, and you moved your hand to tuck it behind his ear, and the corner of his mouth moved up in a smile. You could feel your heart starting to beat faster and faster when he looked at you like this. Even in the silence, nothing felt awkward. And if you had the guts to do it, now would probably be the perfect time to kiss him properly - but you felt confused. All the time that Fred had spent up in his room, not talking or interacting with you made you think that he wasn’t interested anymore. But moments like this made your mind wander…

“Come on, hungry,” Fred said, turning his body to stand up. He held out his hand to help you up, and you took it, smiling appreciatively. “Let’s get you fed.” 

He let go of your hand, and squatted down in front of you, inviting you to jump on his back for a piggy-back ride. You laughed as you held onto his shoulders, and jumped on. 

You missed this, you realised. Fred always tried to prove to you that he was strong enough to carry you when you were younger, and now that he was two, maybe three heads taller than you, he could do it with ease. He adjusted you so that you were comfortable, and then started to sprint towards the house to catch up with everyone, making you squeal and laugh as you clung onto him for dear life. You knew he wouldn’t drop you, but at this speed, you didn’t want to think about what would happen to you if you were dropped. You made it back to the house in one piece, and Fred let you get off before the steps to the back door. He caught his breath for a few seconds, then opened the door for you, and held the small of your back as you entered the house. 

Dinner was just being plated up as you sat at the table. You sat next to Charlie, and Fred took the empty seat next to you as usual. Charlie kindly filled up your glass with water with the flick of his wand, and Mrs. Weasley put a generous helping of beef and ale stew in front of you. You thanked her, but she didn’t seem to hear you, her ears probably still ringing from this afternoon’s events. You felt Fred’s hand rest on your thigh under the table as you waited for Mrs. Weasley to sit down to start eating. You didn't want to admit it to yourself, but you could feel that you were falling for him harder than before.You looked up at him and met his gaze, and couldn’t help but start smiling at those big, brown eyes. 

*** 

Putting on your robes for the first time since your last day at Hogwarts last year felt exciting. You looked at yourself in Ginny’s mirror, and smiled at the reflection - you hadn’t seen yourself like this in a long time. And it felt good to be back.

“Are we ready to go?” Hermione asked, fluffing up her already bushy hair. 

“I think so,” you told her, checking your makeup for the third time this morning. 

You were going into Diagon alley today to do some last minute school shopping - you had prepared all of your books and equipment the week before, except for the Potions textbook that was on hold for you at Flourish and Blotts. Hermione was also ready, and had all her supplies neatly placed in her suitcase, but everyone else was starting to scramble to make lists of the things they needed. 

You turned back to your bed to collect Beetle. You cradled her in your arms like a baby as you took her down the stairs to let her out the back with Crookshanks.

“Be a good girl, okay?” you told her, giving her lots of kisses on the top of her head. “Don’t be giving those gnomes a hard time.” 

She leapt out of your arms, and joined Crookshanks who was digging around a tree, thwarting at something under the roots. 

You joined the others in the living room at the fireplace. You were going by floo powder today, and everyone looked excited as they watched Mrs. Weasley get the powder ready. She held it out to George, who took a large handful and stepped into the fireplace, taking a deep breath. 

“Now, please try to be as quiet as you can, your father and brothers are still sleep-”

“Diagon alley!” George exclaimed loudly. He threw the powder against the ground, and it erupted into fluorescent green flames which engulfed his body. They soon extinguished, and left only a trace of ash on the ground below. It was always so intriguing to watch floo powder in action, but always more exciting to experience it. 

“They never listen,” Mrs. Weasley sighed, shaking her head.

Fred went next, speaking clearly before the green flames shrouded his tall frame until he disappeared. Mrs. Weasley then held out the powder to you. You exhaled, and took a handful of the powder. You stepped into the fireplace, being mindful of your head, and held out your hand in front of you, ready to go. 

“Diagon alley!” you said, and dropped the powder at your feet. The sudden drop in your stomach felt like you were being sucked down the drain in the bath, and green flames surrounded your now suspended body, which started to spin uncontrollably. You did your best to keep your eyes open, but the spinning and the smell of burnt toast from the flames made your stomach flip. You were sure that this wasn’t as bad as the feeling of travelling by portkey, but you wished that there were some other means of transport that considered your fragile stomach. 

You looked down below you, and spotted an empty grate. You went towards it, closed your eyes, and felt your body make contact with solid tiles. A hand grabbed your forearm, and you got to your feet, wiping the dust out of your eyes. 

“Have a nice trip?” a voice asked, and you realised it must be the person who helped you up. You opened your eyes to make sure there wasn’t any dust anymore, and smiled at Fred. 

“As always,” you said sarcastically, wiping your arms that were also covered in ash. You looked around the room that you were in - it was empty in the middle, with a high ceiling and walls surrounded by several fireplaces for Floo powder travel. George spotted you both across the room and you waved him over. 

“Can you see anyone else?” Fred asked you as you spotted Hermione arriving at one of the fireplaces near the entrance. 

“Yeah, I see Hermione,” you said. 

“And there’s Ron,” Fred said, going over to his brother. You went over to Hermione, and helped her up as she dusted herself off.

“You’d think they’d make better ways to get us around,” she said, fixing her robes. “You’d think that having magic they could come up with something decent.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” you told her, and you both began to giggle. 

Everyone eventually appeared out of different fireplaces, and all congregated together. Mrs. Weasley, who wanted to help Ginny with her school list, directed everyone out of the building, and into the alleyway. 

You always forgot how magical this place was. It was extremely old, older than you could imagine, but it was so enchanting. The buildings looked straight out of an Old English storybook you used to read as a child - wooden architecture painted in all different colours with windows sculpted by their metal framing. They all looked rickety, standing several stories tall above the alley, and you assumed that some sort of magic was keeping them from collapsing onto the street below. The menagerie where you found Beetle all those years ago was spilling out onto the cobblestone path with exotic animals, and smells of sweets make your now hungry stomach grumble as you walked past a cart making toffee apples. Several first year Hogwarts students gathered around a window at the Quidditch supply shop, gazing in at the newest broom model displayed in the front window. Witches and wizards of all ages crowded the pathway towards the other side of the alley with their friends and family, laughing and smiling with their new purchases. It made you realise just how much you missed this part of your life over the summer. 

“Where to first, kids?” Mrs. Weasley asked. 

“I need some new books for third year,” Ginny explained. “Ron’s Herbology book is falling apart at the seams.” 

Mrs. Weasley looked at her son. “And how exactly did that happen.” 

Ron turned beetroot red. “It wasn’t my fault, mum,” he started. “This fungus started to grow on it, and I had to get it out.” 

Mrs. Weasley then began lecturing her son about taking responsibility for his belongings while he stood embarrassed. 

“Alright, off to Flourish and Blotts,” Mrs. Weasley said finally, heading down the laneway. “Then we need to stop by the Apothecary for more Floo powder.” 

Flourish and Blotts was your favourite shop in Diagon Alley. Sure, there were other bookstores around, but none had quite the range of niche topics that you could guarantee would be found in Flourish and Blotts. And, after reading up on Charlie’s books about dragons, it had piqued your interest to find some more of the recommendations he gave you. 

As you entered the store, you realised just how busy it was. It was fairly crammed, mostly by Hogwarts students buying things last minute, as the rest of your group was. They has all dispersed into different sections of the store - Harry, Ron and Hermione went looking for some textbooks for fourth year, Mrs. Weasley and Ginny went up to a shop assistant to help them find the Herbology book she needed, and Fred and George went around to try and find potion books that had anything in them they could use for Weasley Wizard Wheezes. You headed to the front counter to pick up your Potions book, and the cashier found it out the back, and wrapped in brown paper and twine for you. You then headed to the magical creatures section upstairs, perusing around the other wizards while getting out the piece of parchment Charlie had given you from your robe. He didn’t have a copy of one of the books he had written down, _From Egg to Inferno: a Dragon-Keeper's Guide_ , and you hoped that you would find it on one of the shelves. You moved down the first shelf, but no sign of dragons anywhere. You rounded the corner to the other side of the shelf while checking the parchment again, not looking where you were going, making you accidentally walk straight into someone and drop the parchment in a flurry onto the floor.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t-” 

You looked up at the stranger, and your heart skipped a beat. 

Of course. It wouldn’t be anyone else. 

“It’s alright, Y/N,” Cedric said, laughing slightly at your embarrassment. He bent down and picked up the parchment you dropped, observing the writing on it. “ _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland._ Interesting stuff.” 

You blushed as he handed it back to you, grinning. “Yeah, it’s, uh, quite interesting.” 

He smiled down at you, and you couldn’t help but to stare at him for longer than warranted. His hair looked particularly good today, parted on its usual side, and he was dressed in his Hogwarts robes with his prefect badge displayed proudly. He looked extremely handsome, and that added smile made you feel like your limbs were turning to jelly. 

“Uh, how are you going?” he asked you. “You know, after…” 

You nodded, realising what he was talking about. 

“I’ve been okay,” you told him. “It’s been kind of weird I guess, but it gets better each day.” 

He smiled even more now. “That’s really good.” 

“How have you been?” you asked him. 

“Yeah, same as you. Just getting through it. Are you here for school things?” 

“Uh, sort of,” you explained. “Mainly just for reading, but I did need the Potions book for this year. They were sold out last time I was in here.” 

“Oh,” Cedric said, looking taken aback. “I didn’t know you were doing Potions for N.E.W.T. I am, too.” 

This statement made you smile. “Yeah, I just scraped in.” 

“Lucky, that. What other classes are you taking?” he asked you enthusiastically. 

“Uh, Care of Magical Creatures, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Charms.” 

Cedric looked at you mystified. “I’m taking them, too!” 

“Oh, that’s great!” you told him, trying not to show just how excited you were about potentially having every class with him.

“Yeah, that’s really cool,” he said. “I’ve also been meaning to ask you something, but I keep forgetting to.” 

You felt like your whole body turned cold as he said that - was he about to… No. He couldn’t be…. But could he? 

“Your broom, the Comet 260. How do you like it?” he asked you. You felt a wave of relief wash over you, thanking every God you could think of that he didn’t just ask you out in the middle of a bookstore. But how did he know what broom you had? 

“Uh, yeah, I really like anything Comet makes, that one in particular is really good,” you started. “Why do you ask?” 

“Don’t tell anyone,” he said softly. “But I’m looking at getting a new broom for this year. I know that Firebolts are all the rage now, but I’ve seen you play and thought that you might have some insight on your Comet.” 

“Oh, sure,” you said, blushing at the thought of Cedric watching you, actually noticing you playing quidditch. “Firebolts are really cool, but so expensive, so honestly, if I were getting a new broom, I’d-” 

“Y/N,” a voice said behind you. You swivelled your head, and saw Fred walking towards you, stopping when he noticed who you were talking to, his facial expression changing from a slight grin to suspicious eyes. “Uh, we’re all heading off now.” 

“Oh, okay,” you said to him, noticing that he was staring straight at Cedric now. You turned back to your conversation with Cedric. 

“Um, I’d get a Nimbus 2001,” you told him. “Much faster and more agile for a Seeker than a Comet.”

He nodded at you, smiling with the corner of his mouth. “Alright, thanks for your help, Y/N.” 

“No worries,” you smiled. 

“I’ll see you at school, okay?” he said, resting his hand on your upper arm before turning to continue down to the next lot of shelves. “I hope I get to see you in some of my classes, too.” 

He wandered off down the next aisle, leaving you frozen in place. 

“Y/N?” Fred said to you, putting his hand on your shoulder. You returned back to reality, and turned to face him. 

“Sorry,” you said to him. “What were you saying?” 

“Um,” Fred mumbled. “Nothing. Are you alright?” 

You nodded your head, and looked back to where you last saw Cedric, hoping to catch one last glimpse of him. “Yeah,” you exhaled. “Just ran into a friend.”


	6. Left Behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone for your continued support. I'll also be posting this to wattpad in case you prefer that format, under the same username and title :)))

The groaning of the taxi engine chugged under you as it sped towards Kings Cross station on Monday morning. George sat up front with the driver, and you and Fred occupied the back seats. You noticed the car struggled a lot more than the cars you were used to, and realised the weight of the three trunks in the boot and part of the back seat weighed it down immensely. 

As you stared at the buildings rushing past you against the rain drops on the window, you tried to piece together the events of this morning. You had woken up earlier than you planned to the spatter of rain on Ginny’s window, which refused to let you get back to sleep. You accepted that you were now awake, and crept down to the kitchen, and were met with a fright in the living room. Fred was sitting slumped in one of the couches, shrouded in darkness and he snored quietly. He jumped awake when he heard your footsteps, and you giggled at his reaction. He came out here because he couldn’t sleep either - the rain was hammering loudly on the roof, and the ghoul in the attic was especially rampant in the night. You sat next to him, and leaned your head on his shoulder as he spread the blanket on his lap over you. He began to groggily apologise for not spending a lot of time with you this week. You told him that it was okay, and that you understood how busy he was. Jokingly, you said that to make up for it he had to spend every minute with you next term, but he didn’t seem to feel obligated by this - he said that it wouldn’t be a bad thing. You managed to fall asleep again, thinking about what he meant by that last statement, and woke up to the sound of people coming down the stairs a few hours later, cooing as they saw you two snuggled up together. You were both embarrassed, but everyone seemed to have forgotten by breakfast. You also remembered Amos Diggory’s face appearing in the fireplace as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley rushed around the house before he was off to work. He mentioned something about Mad Eye Moody, the infamous auror, being broken into, but Mr. Weasley didn’t seem too fussed about it until Mr. Diggory mentioned Mad Eye’s new job, which sounded important. Mr. Diggory then left with a helping of toast from Mrs. Weasley, and Mr. Weasley left for work, wishing you all the best for the new term.

Before you knew it, you had pulled up to Kings Cross Station, and the rain began to set in again. You opened the door of the taxi, and stepped out onto the cobblestone path, pulling the hood of your jumper up over your head, and waited while the driver opened the boot. He looked slightly wide-eyed as he stared at Beetle, who was alert in your arms, and let you take your things out. After this morning, where Fred’s trunk accidentally opened as the driver grabbed it and his collection of wet-start, no-heat fireworks started to explode out of it, you realised that this would be best for everyone. He was also extremely quiet for most of the ride, even as George sat in the front and asked him endless questions about his car.

After George grabbed his trunk, the driver slammed the boot shut, and climbed into the front seat, taking off as quickly as he could. 

“He was a bit weird,” Fred said, watching the taxi speed off into the distance.

“Oh definitely,” George said. “Not the people with owls and cats and exploding suitcases. He was the weird one.”

Bill and Charlie came over to you to help you get your cases over the curb, and onto some trolleys they managed to find. You then began to push yours towards the station entrance, following Mrs. Weasley as she rushed through with Ginny by her side. You couldn’t recognise anyone else with Hogwarts cases or caged owls, and you knew that your group was sticking out like sore thumbs amongst the hundreds of business people moving around you. You tried not to draw attention to yourself, but the loud trolleys behind you and Pigwidgeon, Ron’s new owl, squawking in his cage didn’t help. 

“Will you keep that thing quiet?” Hermione asked him through her teeth. 

“He doesn’t listen to me!” Ron said defensively. 

Beetle rested on your shoulder as you wandered onto the platform. She was peering behind you at Harry’s owl, Hedwig, and you held onto her tight with one arm so she wouldn’t leap at her. Charlie came up behind you, seeing you struggling with one handed steering, and took over. 

“Here, let me get this,” he said.

“Oh, thanks Charlie,” you said, and cradled Beetle with both arms. 

He began to ask you about the books of his that you had read, and he could see your enjoyment as you talked. 

“You know,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a crumpled sheet of parchment. “If you want to, you can send me letters when I get back to Romania. I’d love to hear about your classes and everything.” 

“You never want to hear about our classes,” Fred said next to you, looking at his older brother. 

“Well, that’s because Y/N makes things sound interesting,” Charlie said. He handed you the parchment, and you thanked him, and tucked it into your pocket. 

You arrived at the wall between platforms 9 and 10, and Mrs. Weasley looked around at the sudden rush of muggles as a train pulled up.

“Alright, we’ll have to do this quickly,” Mrs. Weasley said. “And try to be as sneaky as you can.” 

Ginny went first, casually leaning on the wall before disappearing as people passed in front of her. George followed with the same tactic in mind, and before you knew it, he had slipped through, too. Charlie passed your trolley to you with a wink, and you joined Fred at the wall. Beetle jumped off your shoulder, and sat on one of your cases.

“You ready?” Fred whispered to you. You nodded with a smile, and you swear you could hear Mrs. Weasley cooing softly at you both. It was obviously no secret that the Weasley family suspected something was going on between you, and your cheeks always flushed red when they picked up on something. You held your trolley with your free hand while leaning your other shoulder on the wall, and Fred leaned his back on it. You took a deep breath and closed your eyes, feeling the wall start to dissolve under your weight. Fred grabbed your hand as it slipped through the wall and squeezed it tight as you felt your legs begin to carry you forward. You smiled to yourself and squeezed your eyes tight in excitement. Light suddenly burst behind your eyelids as you took one final step, and before you knew it, you were standing on Platform 9 ¾. 

“That never gets old,” Fred said, coming out from behind you. You pushed your trolley around the corner, and saw the cherry red steam train had already arrived, hissing in all its glory. The station was busy, with families all saying their goodbyes to their children. They ran around the station with their friends, hopping on and off the train, sticking their heads out and waving at their parents. You saw Ginny and George waiting off to the side, and waved as they caught glimpse of you. The others weren’t far behind, and station officers came by to stow some of your larger luggage. Charlie insisted on saying goodbye to Beetle, and grabbed her off your shoulder. She hissed and scratched to no avail, and jumped out of his hands onto the station floor. 

“Sorry,” you exclaimed. “She’s not too fond of new people.” 

“But I’ve been with her all week,” Charlie whined at Beetle, now sitting behind you, glaring her big green eyes at him. “What more could you want?”. 

You were about to follow everyone on the train, but saw out of the corner of your eye three people running up to you at an alarming speed.

“Y/N!” you heard your name being said in three high pitched tones. Three people bundled you in their arms, hugging you tightly, and you smiled hard as you realised who it was - Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell, three of your best friends, aside from the twins. 

You had met Angelina and Alicia at this exact same place six years ago. Up until your admittance into Hogwarts, you hadn’t been exposed to anything of the Wizarding world, and were terrified of the thought of making new friends in this strange new environment. On the train to Hogwarts, you sat alone in a compartment, when Angelina came in and sat down with you, introducing herself confidently. You resonated with her immediately, intrigued by how smart and self-assured she was for her age. Alicia then opened the compartment nervously, and asked if she could sit with you. After that train ride, you had been inseparable ever since, sharing every class together and joining the quidditch team in the same year after they had taught you how to play. Katie was a later edition to your friendship group, after she tried out for the quidditch team and almost automatically was offered a place. She was a year younger than the rest of you, but you always seemed to forget.

“I’ve missed you guys so much!” you exclaimed, hugging them all back. 

“We missed you too,” Alicia said. “Why didn’t you write to us?” 

You remembered the argument you had with your mother about not having owls coming into the shop over the summer. You definitely received a lot of letters from these three as secretly as you could, but didn’t want to risk being caught sending letters by your mum. The only time you did was sending Pig back to the Burrow after Fred had written to you, but you didn’t want to tell them that. 

“Mum wouldn’t let me have an owl in case it came into the shop,” you explained again. “She was scared the Muggles might see it carrying parcels or letters and didn’t want to risk it.” 

“I guess so,” Alicia said. “But that just gives us all of today to catch up!” 

“We’re going to get a compartment, are you sitting with us?” Angelina asks. 

You looked at Fred and George, who were chatting away to some Gryffindor boys that you recognised from class. 

“Uh, yeah, that sounds good,” you said. You looked at Fred again, and he caught your eye. You had to admit, if you had the choice, you would sit with Fred and his friends. But you knew that he hadn’t seen any of his mates over the summer, and neither had you, and the train ride to Hogwarts was a good time to catch up with your respective friends. You looked away as quickly as possible, and returned to your conversation. 

“Alright, let’s go! I want to sit up the front,” Katie stated. 

“And why’s that?” Angelina asked. 

“You’ll see why.” 

You followed Katie onto the train with Beetle on your shoulder as she spotted a compartment near the front of the train. She opened the door, and flopped onto one of the seats.

“Perfect,” she said. “All these ones were taken last year.” 

“Why are you so insistent on sitting up here?” you asked her as you put your smaller case up on the overhead racks. 

“All in good time, Y/N,” she said mysteriously. You shook your head, laughing slightly. You looked out of the window, and saw Mrs. Weasley, Bill and Charlie saying goodbye to Fred and George, as their friends lingered behind them. They looked highly embarrassed as Mrs. Weasley kissed their cheeks and hugged them for longer than they wanted. You realised that you hadn’t said your goodbyes yet, and looked at the watch on your wrist. You had a bit of time left, and thought it would be good to see them off.

“I’m just going to pop out for a second,” you said, and everyone nodded. You handed Beetle over to Angelina, who gave her a cuddle. 

“We’ll be here,” Alicia said. 

You stepped off the train, and headed towards the group. Fred and George were still there, and Mrs. Weasley was just saying goodbye to Harry when she saw you. 

“Oh, and Y/N!” she cooed, outstretching her arms to you. She hugged you tightly, and kissed your cheek. “You keep an eye on those boys for me, and study hard.” 

You giggled, and looked at the twins behind you. “I’ll try my best.” 

Bill came up behind his mother, and hugged you goodbye. Charlie was next, and gave you a tight squeeze. 

“You promise that you’ll write to me?” he asked you. You smiled at him. 

“If you would like me to,” you said. “I’m sure that Knarls and Jackalopes aren’t that interesting to you.” 

“Well, why didn’t you say anything about that before?” Charlie said, smiling at you. “Now you _have_ to write to me.” 

You smiled at him, and he patted your shoulder. You had never really had anyone be interested in or encourage your learning before. Sure, your professors were always interested in their subjects, and loved to see you enjoy the content of their lessons. But it felt different when Charlie not only helped, but understood your passion and love for the subject. 

“Also, I’m not supposed to say anything about this,” Charlie began, going into a whisper. “But I’ll be seeing you a lot sooner than you think.” 

You looked up at him, confused. 

“What do you mean?” you asked. “Aren’t you going back to Romania?” 

“Well, yes,” he admitted. “But Percy said I can’t tell you anything else except that. Secret Ministry business.” 

You nodded, still confused at his statement. You turned to Mrs. Weasley, who was sending everyone off. 

“Now, you three are all invited to Christmas dinner,” she said to you, Harry and Hermione. “But you may want to stay over the Christmas break, too. So it’s up to you on what you would like to do.” 

“Mum, why are you being so cryptic?” George asked. 

“You’ll find out soon. Maybe even tonight…” she trailed off. 

Everyone groaned, and you said your final goodbyes to the family. You followed the twins onto the train, and Fred turned to you before he stepped on. 

“Do you already have a compartment, Y/N?” he asked you. 

“Uh, kind of,” you said. “Angelina and everyone invited me to sit with them.” 

Fred looked slightly crestfallen. You hoped he didn’t have any plans to sit with you. 

“Alright,” he said with a tinge of disappointment. “I’ll come find you a bit later then.” 

You nodded, and he put his hand on your shoulder before heading off in the opposite direction with George. You looked at him as he wandered down the corridor, and disappeared behind other students. You loved your friends, and were happy to sit with them, but something made you wish you were sitting with him instead. 

You came back into your compartment, and the girls were all looking at you with wide eyes. Even Beetle, who was snuggling on Angelina’s lap, glared up at you.

“Who was that?” Katie asked you as you closed the door behind you. You looked at her, confused. 

“Who was who?” you asked. 

“The older boy, with the red hair?” Katie asked. “You were talking to him for ages.” 

You realised she must have been watching you talk to Charlie.

“Oh, that’s just Charlie Weasley,” you stated. Katie looked at you with a cunning grin. 

“Is he…” she started. You looked at her, and she was waiting for you to connect the dots. 

“What?” you asked, confused. Katie rolled her eyes. 

“Do you fancy him?” she asked bluntly. “He looked like he fancies you.” 

“Give it a rest, Katie,” Alicia said in your defence. “She can’t have all the Weasley boys.” 

You rolled your eyes. “For the last time, Fred doesn’t like me like that.” 

“You keep telling yourself that,” Alicia said. “I see the way he looks at you.” 

Your cheeks flushed red, and everyone giggled at you. “Oh shoosh!” you exclaimed. 

“So, if, _Charlie_ , isn’t into you,” Katie started. “Is he, available?” 

You all began to hysterically laugh. 

“You need to lay off the older men,” Angelina said. “This crush of yours on Cedric is bad enough.” 

Your stomach dropped as Angelina said his name. 

“Cedric?” you asked. “As in, Cedric Diggory?” 

“Yes,” Angelina started. “Hence why we’re right next to the Prefect’s carriage. And why there are more girls sitting in the compartments behind us.” 

Now Katie’s cheeks had turned red. “Please don’t tell anyone!” 

“Oh, please,” Alicia laughed. “Every girl at Hogwarts is after him. One more won’t make a difference.” 

“Not every girl,” Angelina commented. 

“He’s very handsome,” Alicia stated. “Even you can admit that.” 

The bickering continued until the train whistled loudly, signalling it’s departure. You opened the compartment’s window, and all gathered around, looking out onto the platform as the train started to slowly move. Beetle sat up on the seat next to you, and then laid down as she realised nothing important was happening. You saw Mrs. Weasley, Bill and Charlie waving, and you waved back at them as the platform disappeared from view. You smiled to yourself, but felt bittersweet about leaving them behind. You loved the Burrow, and considered it your second home, and you hated leaving. But Hogwarts was something else entirely. It really did feel like home.

You sat back in your seat, and continued talking to the girls. They asked about your summer, and you mentioned how you attended the world cup. 

“Oh my god,” Alicia gasped. “Were you at the campgrounds?” 

“Yeah, we were,” you said, trying your best not to let your mind indulge in the memories. 

“Are you okay?” Katie asked, holding your hand. You nodded. 

“Yeah, I’m okay,” you started. “It was really scary. Like, the scariest thing I think I’ll ever experience. But we’re all okay.” 

Everyone gave you a sympathetic smile. “We’re really sorry that happened to you.” 

You grinned thankfully, and they quickly changed the conversation to talking about N.E.W.T subjects, before you noticed someone walk past the compartment in their Hufflepuff robes.  
“What’s so bad about-” Katie started, noticing the figure too. She froze up, her eyes becoming wide.

“Bloody hell,” she whispered. “Was that him?” 

You all shrugged, seeming disinterested in her antics. The figure returned a few moments later, opening the compartment door. And there he stood, in what looked like his new Hufflepuff robes with his Prefect badge displayed proudly, as you had seen him in Flourish and Blotts a few days earlier. 

“Sorry to interrupt, ladies,” Cedric started. “Just checking that you have stowed all your luggage away properly?” 

Katie and Alicia looked at him, astonished. 

“Yeah, Cedric,” Angelina answered. “It’s all up on the racks and in the luggage carriage.” 

Cedric smiled. “Great. I’ll leave you to it.” 

He looked at you before he slid the door close, and caught your gaze, giving you a smile that sent your heart into a frenzy. You smiled back, hoping no one else noticed, and slumped back in your seat as he left. Katie and Alicia began to giggle to each other, whispering about how cute he looked today, and how husky his voice had become since last year. You didn’t join in, but your mind was racing with those exact thoughts. His floppy brown hair, puppy dog eyes and incredibly sharp jawline. You tried not to think about him, but you couldn’t help yourself. 

“Wonder what that was all about,” Angelina said to you. “They don’t usually come around asking that.” 

You thought back, and realised that she was right. It was strange. But you didn’t think about it any longer as Angelina began to talk about her plans for quidditch this year. She was adamant about starting training and tryouts as soon as possible, and as often as possible. Her voice became drowned out as you looked out at the English countryside rushing past, thinking wistfully about all your spare time being chewed up by quidditch training. 

***

As the sun began to dip into the afternoon, you changed into your Gryffindor robes in anticipation for your arrival later in the evening. Everyone had exhausted every possible conversation, and resorted to reading textbooks and reading over Angelina’s training manual. Several of your friends came by to say hello, but the compartment was the popular place for all of Katie’s friends who were trying their best to peek a look into the Prefect’s carriage. Cho Chang, one of Katie’s friends, and more recently yours, came by as well.

“Hi, Y/N!” she greeted you with a hug. 

“Hey, Cho,” you said back. 

You really liked Cho - she was smart, super friendly, and seemed to like you, too. She was a year younger than you, and the seeker for the Ravenclaw quidditch team, but neither of those things seemed to phase your friendship. Katie had introduced you on a Hogsmeade trip, and you hit it off instantly. Conversation seemed to flow so naturally, like you had been friends for years. After that, she always went out of her way to say hello or chat to you in between classes. You loved your friends in Gryffindor, but it was really nice to have someone to talk to who wasn’t in your periphery every second of every day, and she seemed to think the same way. You talked about your summers as she sat next to you, and soon left after one of her friends came by to invite Katie to their compartment. 

The lovely old lady with the cart full of sweets and snacks came by later in the afternoon, asking if you would like anything. You looked at everyone, and they all shook their heads. 

“We’re okay. Thank you!” Alicia said politely to the lady. She nodded her head, and closed the door behind her. You sat for a while, continuing to read Dragon Breeding: For Pleasure and Profit, when you felt your stomach begin to rumble. It was past lunchtime now, and the sandwich Mrs. Weasley had packed you didn’t feel like nearly enough. Maybe some pumpkin pasties could cure your hunger, you thought to yourself. You made sure you had some coins in your robe pocket, and stood up to catch the lady with the trolley.

“Does anyone want anything?” you said, hanging out of the compartment to locate the lady. 

“Mm,” Angelina started. “Maybe some Droobles?” 

“And some Fizzing Whizzbees!” Alicia said. 

You rolled your eyes. “Why didn’t you ask her earlier?” 

“We weren’t hungry two minutes ago,” Angelina said. 

You closed the door behind you, and walked up to the lady down the corridor. She smiled at you, and you asked her for the items you were after. She slowly retrieved them, and put them in a small bag for you. You were about to hand over your coins to her when you felt someone come up behind you. 

“I can get them,” the voice said, sending chills down your spine. You turned around, and looked at Cedric, and started blushing hard. 

“Oh, you don’t have to-” you said, but Cedric had already handed the lady some gold coins. 

“And two more of those pumpkin pasties,” he said to her. “They’re my favourite.” 

You smiled at that statement. No one you knew loved them as much as you did. 

She placed the coins in her till, and handed Cedric some silver change. She gave the bag of goodies to you, and you started walking behind Cedric back to your compartment. 

“You really didn’t have to do that,” you said to him. 

“Don’t mention it,” he said, looking back at you with a smile. “Say, did you find that book you were looking for on Saturday? What was it called?” 

You remembered back to Flourish and Blotts when he looked over Charlie’s recommendations that you had dropped on the floor.

“Uh, no, actually,” you said. “I didn’t have any time to properly look.” 

“Oh, that’s a shame,” Cedric started. “It sounded quite interesting.” 

You smiled at his comment. “I didn’t know you were interested in dragons.” 

“They’re fascinating,” he commented. “I’ve never seen one in person before, but maybe we get to finally talk about them this year.” 

“Maybe,” you said. You stopped just in front of the Prefect’s compartment, out of sight from your compartment. You dipped into your bag, and gave him his pumpkin pasties, and yours as well, to thank him.

“Oh, thanks, Y/N,” he said, grinning at the delicious snacks. “You’re very sweet.” 

“You bought them,” you insisted. “So I want you to have them.” 

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Have you had lunch?” 

“Yeah,” you lied. “I’m all good.” 

He smiled at you, and opened the door to the Prefect carriage. 

“Well, thanks again,” you said, turning to head to your compartment. “I really appreciate the snacks.” 

“I should be thanking you,” he said gratefully. “These are honestly my favourite things in the world.” 

You smiled at him, and he grinned back, his eyes sparkling. 

“Alright, I’ll see you later, Y/N,” he said. “Have a nice rest of your journey.” 

You nodded, and watched him close the door behind him. You couldn’t stop smiling at the frosted door in front of you. 

“Y/N?” a voice said behind you. You turned around, as saw Fred standing in front of George and their friend Lee Jordan. “Are you alright? What are you doing in front of the Prefect’s carriage?” 

Your cheeks may as well be a permanent shade of red from now on. “Oh, nothing. I was just saying hello to someone.” 

Fred looked at you suspiciously, and followed you into your compartment. Everyone perked up at the new company, and started chatting away to them. You sat with Fred, and shared Alicia’s Fizz Whizzbees, laughing as Fred’s nose started bubbling over. Lee then pulled out a packet of sweets that made him make parrot squawks as he spoke, which made Beetle start hissing. You all started laughing and clapping, and shared the box around. Angelina and Alicia took one each, and oinked and squealed like pigs. George chewed on his, and a lion’s roar sounded gutterly from his chest, making Beetle scramble under your seat. George went down to grab her to apologise, but she continued hissing at him. You looked up to Fred as he offered you the box, and you took one, popping them in your mouths at the same time. You opened your mouth, and began to howl like a wolf, and Fred joined in, sending the group cackling. A horse-faced Ravenclaw prefect opened the compartment door, and snottily asked you to be quiet. You all nodded, trying to stifle and recover from your laughter. You wished that you could indulge in this moment forever, being surrounded by friends, laughing and stupid things, smiling like idiots. It filled you up with joy, and you wished you could stop time, or at least slow it down to savour it forever. You looked to Fred as the others began discussing something you weren’t paying attention to, and he looked down at you, and interlocked his fingers with yours under the long sleeves of your robes. The smile you had on your face wasn’t coming off for a long time. 

*** 

“First years, follow me!” you heard the jolly Hagrid bellow from the platform of Hogsmeade station. It was dark outside now, and a thunderstorm clapped suddenly as you pulled into the station only minutes earlier. You heard the commotion outside as first years began to scramble off the train in the pouring rain, and gasped at the burly man before them. You realised that with the years before you and the extremely wet weather, you were going to be waiting a while until sixth years were going to be called off, and crossed your legs in your seat. The boys had left a while ago to change into their robes, and returned to their compartment, you guessed. You rested your head on the side of the window, and sighed. 

“I just want to eat something nice,” you groaned, as the second years were called. 

“I dream of those Yorkshire puddings every summer,” Katie sighed, who had returned to your compartment an hour ago. “I don’t understand how they can be so fluffy...” 

“Please, no more food talk,” Alicia complained. “I’m so hungry. It’s like torture!” 

You laughed as she dramatically collapsed on her seat. 

Around fifteen minutes had passed before the fifth years were called off the train, and you said goodbye to Katie as she left. Another good ten minutes went by, and the sixth years were finally called off. Angelina looked out of the compartment door, and saw that it was banked back with students. 

“We’ll have to wait until these guys get off,” she said, and sat back down in her seat while everyone groaned. “We’ll be waiting either way. I’d rather be sitting than standing, but it’s up to you guys.” 

You realised she was right, and you stayed sitting. Beetle was curled up under your seat, and you lent down to lure her out. She did a big stretch, and wandered over to you, and you collected her like a baby.

As the students began to clear out, Angelina opened the door, and headed out. You followed behind Alicia, and looked back to check you hadn’t left anything behind. You had your luggage up on the racks, Beetle was in your arms, you had your robes on, and you had put your clothes back in your case. Clothes, you thought to yourself. Where was your hoodie? 

You went back into the compartment and looked under the seats again, looking around to see anything that resembled the fleecy jumper. You looked under the other seats, but nothing. You wondered if one of the boys had taken it accidentally, and you looked back at your seat. A small square of fabric was poking out of the space between the seat and the wall, and you noticed it straight away. You put Beetle down on the seat, and began to pull on the hoodie. It was quite jammed in the seat, realising that Fred must have accidentally squashed it into this nook. It finally released itself as you tugged on it, being careful not to rip it, and quickly opened your case to push it in. You locked it up again, and swaddled Beetle in your robe in anticipation of the storm outside. You took one final look back at the compartment, and everything looked in order. You rushed off the train from the nearest exit, but noticed that the station was empty, and the rain was soaking your clothes. You must be the last sixth year left. You carefully ran to the path up to the carriages that took you up to the castle, making sure you didn’t slip over on the glossy bricks. 

You could barely see in front of you it was raining that heavily, making directions seem almost impossible to make out. You looked down at the path, and occasionally peered up to see where you were going. You could just make out that Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Lee, and another student were standing underneath a makeshift shelter lit with oil lamps, waiting for a carriage. You hurried along the path to meet them, but you were too late - a self-drawn carriage had arrived, and the group stepped in, and left in a hurry. You slowed down, trying to shield your face from the rain with one of your hands, watching the carriage make its way up to the castle you could see silhouetted in the distance. You ducked your head again, and made it up to the shelter, panting slightly. Your clothes were soaked, you realised, and your wet hair was sticking to your face. You brushed most of it back to its original place, and stood shivering in the cold. You could see another student was rushing up the path, with what looked like an umbrella. That was smart, you thought to yourself. As he approached the shelter, you looked to him again, and your stomach dropped again for the second time today. 

“Did you get left behind?” Cedric shouted over the rain, smiling at you. 

“Looks like it,” you shouted back. He shook out his umbrella, and popped it down, quickly getting under the shelter.

“Oh, you’re soaked, Y/N,” he commented, making your stomach drop further into your pelvis, which sent more blood up to your face. “Are you cold?” 

“A bit,” you said, trying not to show your teeth chattering.

“I would give you my robes, but that umbrella was pretty useless,” he said, and you smiled at the gesture as you observed his sopping hair and clothes. 

“It’s okay,” you smiled. “I’ll dry off at dinner.”

A carriage suddenly pulled up next to you, and the door swung open. Cedric signalled for you to get on first, and you climbed in, shielding your face with your free arm from the pouring rain. Cedric shut the door behind him, and sat next to you as the carriage began to move forward. You unravelled your robes, and let Beetle out onto the seat in front of you. She sat for a moment, and looked straight at Cedric. 

“Okay, I didn’t expect that to come out of your robes,” he laughed. He called Beetle over to him, and she dropped off her seat and lept onto his lap, nuzzling his hand as he stroked her face. He smiled as she sat on him, pawing at his hands for more pats. Even when sitting in dim lighting with sopping hair and drenched robes, he still managed to look as handsome as ever. You looked to Beetle, who was enjoying lapping up all the attention. 

“She normally doesn’t like strangers,” you told Cedric, who smiled. 

“She’s lovely,” he commented. “What’s her name?” 

“Beetle,” you told him. 

“Like the bug?” he asked, looking at you. You giggled. 

“Yes, like the bug. Like the shiny black ones.” 

He continued to smile at her. “Well, hello Beetle.”

She had finally had enough of Cedric’s attention, and sauntered over to your lap. You were extremely grateful as she laid down on your legs - she felt like a hot water bottle against your cold body. 

“So, are you looking forward to anything this year?” Cedric asked you. 

“Uh, not really,” you said, which made him laugh. “Oh, you know what I mean. Maybe just quidditch, but nothing else is really on the agenda.” 

“Not going out for quidditch captain?” he asked you again. Your previous quidditch captain Oliver Wood had graduated last year, and the position was open for someone to fill.

“No, not me,” you said modestly. “I think Angelina Johnson is going to get it, but that’s just between you and me.” 

“That’s a shame,” he said. “We could have been captain buddies. And I could have beaten you not just as Gryffindor’s best chaser, but as captain, too.” 

You scoffed at his comment. “Well, I’ll get to beat you as Hufflepuff captain and their best player.” 

“Best player?” Cedric repeated. “Now that’s a compliment.” 

You felt your cheeks start to heat up again, and Cedric smiled at you. 

“Say, quidditch captain, prefect and taking five N.E.W.T courses,” you stated, trying to divert the conversation. “How are you going to manage all that?” 

Cedric then gave you a stressed look. “Yeah, look, it’s not going to be easy,” he admitted. “But I’ll manage. I’ll have to.” 

“Why do you have to?” you asked. “If you don’t mind me prying.” 

“Of course not,” he said. “Just my dad, he expects a lot from me. I’ve managed for a while now, but I think that these N.E.W.T courses are going to ramp up in every way possible, and I don’t think he quite understands that these courses are run differently to when he was here.” 

You nodded, remembering your professors saying the same thing last year. 

“I reckon you can do it,” you tell him. “If anyone can do it, it’s going to be you.” 

He smiled appreciatively. “Thanks, Y/N. I’m glad someone believes in me.”

You could see out the window that you were approaching the school. It looked as magnificent as ever, and you opened your mouth in awe as you stared. The castle was great in size, standing tall against the surrounding trees. You could just make out the winged boars at the entrance being illuminated by the lit window behind them. Cedric looked to where you were looking, and gasped in awe under his breath. 

“I think this is my favourite part of the year,” he whispered in your ear. “When you see the castle for the first time in months. I always forget how amazing it is.” 

His voice sent chills down your already cold spine as it lingered in your ear. The carriage then came to a stop, and the door flung open as a flash of lightning cracked across the sky, but the rain seemed to have stopped for now. Cedric stepped out as you collected Beetle, and held her with one arm over your shoulder. Cedric then grabbed your free hand, and helped you down onto the cobblestone. You thanked him, and you stood together for a moment as the carriage rolled away towards Hogsmeade station, taking in the magnificence of the castle before you and becoming lost for words. The only way you thought you could describe it was magical. You walked into the front entrance with Cedric, and noticed the stacked up luggage along the wall before the marble staircase leading to the Great Hall. You heard the crates of meowing cats before you saw them, and rounded the corner to locate them. You saw Crookshanks in the largest crate amongst the lot, and opened the front of it to put Beetle in there. You kissed her goodbye, and made sure the crate was closed properly before turning back to the staircase. You thought Cedric had walked off to join his friends, but he stood a few metres behind you. You walked up to him, and smiled as he joined you to walk up the stairs.

“Thanks for not leaving me behind earlier,” you said to him.

“I should be thanking you for keeping me company,” he said. “I was the only sixth year left on the train and I thought I’d have to come up alone.” 

As you reached the top of the staircase, you both stopped dead in your tracks as the hall became visible through the open doors. You both gasped at the same time, and giggled at each other’s reactions. The floating candles above the four grand wooden tables illuminated the cloudy night sky above them, displaying flashes of lightning and quiet claps of thunder. The long table at the front of the room sat the many professors of Hogwarts, and sat in the magnificent throne-like chair in the centre was your Headmaster, Dumbledore. 

“This might be my second favourite part of the year,” Cedric joked, looking awestruck.

“Me too,” you agreed. As you walked through the entrance of the Great Hall, you could see your friends sitting at the end of the table on the far right. They waved at you, and you waved back. 

“I guess I’ll see you later, Y/N,” Cedric said, and you nodded. 

“Definitely, if we have some classes together,” you said. 

“I really hope so,” Cedric said with a grin. You exchanged goodbyes, and walked over to the Gryffindor table as he went over to the Hufflepuff table next to it. You sat next to Fred with your back facing the wall, who looked at you with concern. 

“What happened to you, Y/N?” he asked you. You looked at everyone else, who looked just as worried. 

“Oh, I just had to look for something I left behind,” you said. “And then you guys left me behind.” 

“We did not,” George said, his mouth full of a dinner roll. “You were too slow.” 

You rolled your eyes at him, and returned to Fred. His red hair was still wet, and you swept it out of his eyes. He smiled down at you, and rested his hand on your thigh underneath the table.  
“Y/N!” Katie said, walking up behind you from her seat and leaning down between you and Fred. You looked up at her, and she looked extremely intense. “What were you doing with Diggory just now?” 

This question made Fred retract his hand from your leg, and your heart sink to your feet. He turned to his brother, seemingly to ignore you.

“What do you mean?” you asked her, stuttering slightly out of nervousness.

“When you walked in with him,” she said. “Everyone saw you two.” 

This sent off loud alarms in your head, causing you to panic slightly. Everyone saw you walk in with Cedric?

“It was nothing,” you insisted. “We just got the same carriage together.” 

“Oh really?” Katie questioned. “From here, it looked a lot more than that. He looked rather smitten.” 

If there was one moment you could ask the ground to swallow you whole, it would probably be right now. 

“I don’t think so,” you said. “We’re just friends.” 

“Oh, well, you’ll have to introduce me then,” Katie said, and returned to her seat with her fifth year friends. You sighed as you gathered yourself up from that interaction. 

“He did kind of look smitten,” Alicia said across from you. You looked up at her, and buried your face in your hands. 

“This is so embarrassing,” you said to her, and she laughed slightly. 

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “At least the seventh years didn’t see.” 

You looked up from your hands, and shot her a look which made her laugh. You smiled too, ready to brush the whole situation off. 

The seventh years started taking their seats next to you, and you waited patiently for the new first years to come through the hall, ready to be sorted into their houses. You always loved this part - watching young students be enthralled by the floating candles and thundering sky, and become nervous as they sat on the stool in front of the school while the sorting hat mulled over its options. It made your heart warm, watching a new generation experience what you did on this night six years ago. 

You glanced over to the Hufflepuff table as the room clapped as a small girl nervously made her way to the Slytherin table, and caught Cedric’s stare, which was looking straight at you. He raised the corner of his mouth in a smile, and you returned one to him, becoming lost in his gaze as butterflies began to rattle around in your torso. His friend next to him elbowed his arm to get his attention, and you glanced back to the front of the room as Cedric did. In this moment, you finally had to admit it to yourself, even if it sounded crazy - you had a crush on Cedric Diggory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it went on way longer than i originally planned but I was having heaps of fun. Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this, it means a lot to me :))))


	7. Weasley's Waltz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find this fanfic on wattpad under the same username and title!

The Triwizard Tournament. 

So that’s what Mrs. Weasley had been hinting to earlier today.

Dumbledore’s words were still ringing in your ears as you scraped a piece of your treacle tart off your plate and into your mouth. Every student in the room was talking excitedly about the announcement, and you had to admit, you were excited, too. It was something that hadn’t taken place in a century, and by the sounds of it, the competition was going to be intense. But with the Triwizard tournament taking place this year, it meant that the Interhouse Quidditch matches this year was going to be cancelled. It felt like a giant cleaver had been thrown in your chest as Dumbledore delivered the devastating blow of news, and made Angelina turn pale and Fred and George speechless. 

“I’m so full,” Fred exclaimed next to you, leaning his head on your shoulder as he scrunched up his face. 

“I told you not to have a third helping of tiramisu,” you said. “But you just didn’t listen.” 

You carved your spoon into your tart again, and you could see that Fred had opened up his mouth, hoping that you would give him that bite.

“What do you think you’re doing?” you asked him.

“Sharing,” he said. You rolled your eyes at him, and rested your spoon at the level of his head. He took the spoon from your hand, and popped it into his mouth, and chewed unenthusiastically on account of him not really being hungry, but still wanting to eat something. 

You looked up to the head table where all the professors were now sitting, talking amongst themselves. You noticed in the middle of the table where Dumbledore was sitting, the newly introduced Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mad Eye Moody, was leaning down to speak with the headmaster. Earlier that evening, he had stormed into the Hall with a great thud that resonated through the room as Dumbledore was about to announce the tournament, sending an uneasy feeling through everyone who witnessed his hideously scarred face, bulging fake eye and scraggly damp hair as he walked stooped over towards the front of the room.

“You’ve got to be joking,” you muttered to Fred as you noticed the sound of a muted clunk of metal on concrete with every step he took. “That isn’t _Mad Eye Moody?_ The one your dad was talking about this morning?” 

You remembered back to when you had woken up at the Burrow to hear Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory discuss the supposed ‘break-in’ at Moody’s place of residence. 

“That would be him,” Fred said back, not able to take his eyes off the new teacher as he sat in an empty place along the table.

You observed the man closer now, noticing even from the back of the room the unreal features on his pale skin. The scarring was the worst part - it was raised, lumpy and distorted his proportions. His mouth was small, almost as it was formed by some sort of blade that slashed his face. And his eye. There was what looked like one normal one, small and beady, and the other one was unable to be dismissed - it was a large, white sclera with an electric blue iris, and from what you could see, it seemed to be rolling around on its own. He reached into his cloak pocket, and pulled out his own flask, taking a large swig from it and twitched his head almost in repulsion. You couldn’t explain it, and you didn’t know if you were being prejudiced towards him, but your gut was telling you that this man was not to be trusted.

Students were beginning to leave the hall to go up to their dormitories after the desserts began to clear from the long tables. You placed your fork in the middle of your plate, and watched it magically vanish in front of you. George stood up next to his brother, and scraped back the bench you were sitting on, ready to head up to the dorms. You stood up too, and began to walk out of the hall.

“I’m going for it,” George said as he came up behind you, walking next to Fred. “That age restriction is a load of rubbish if you ask me.” 

You reflected back on this statement moments earlier - that several departments in the ministry had agreed to conduct the Triwizard tournament only if students under the age of seventeen were not allowed to enter. You thought that this was a smart move, as Dumbledore did mention that the tournament was cancelled all those years ago because of the increasing annual death toll. But this decision was going to insight some rage in students not of age, particularly sixteen year olds like Fred and George who are just on the cusp of missing out. You were turning seventeen this month, which meant that you were eligible to enter, but even then you weren’t sure if it was a good idea to enter if it meant putting your life on the line. 

“Not in your wildest dreams, Weasley,” you said back. 

“Well, they’re not stopping me entering,” George said, shaking his head. “How will they know I’m not seventeen?”

“They’ve obviously put a restriction in place for a reason,” Hermione chimed as she appeared next to you, walking in front of Harry and Ron. 

“And Dumbledore knows you’re not of age, too” you agreed. “Even something as stupid as an Ageing Potion won’t get past him.” 

George looked up to his brother, and nudged him with his elbow. 

“That’s a great idea,” George said, patting you on your back. “It’s just so pathetically stupid that he won’t see it coming.” 

“I don’t think you heard the part about people dying,” you interjected as you came up to the sets of moving staircases. 

“Come on, Y/N,” Fred said. “That was years ago. And, what’s that old saying? No risk, no reward?” 

“I don’t think your own life is worth risking for a bit of money.” 

“A thousand Galleons is not just a bit of money,” he argued. “Hey, maybe you can enter us.” 

You shook your head at this. You weren’t going to use this advantage on Fred, no matter how persuasive he could be. 

“Nice try,” you said. “But I’m not doing that.” 

“You’re a killjoy,” George said next to him. “We’d do the same for you.”

“Yeah right,” you said, rolling your eyes. 

“Eternal glory…” Ron wondered behind the group, almost stepping through the trick step. 

As you came up to the top of the stairs to enter the Gryffindor common room, you could see Angelina and Alicia waiting outside.

“Has anyone got the new password?” Angelina said loudly as the group moved up the stairs. 

“Yup!” George said back, moving past everyone waiting. He stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, who guarded the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. He stared her down, and she returned a more menacing look.

“Balderdash,” George said, and the Fat Lady’s expression changed to a more pleasant look. She nodded her head, and the door swung open. 

“Where did you get that from?” Fred asked him, ducking as he went through the entrance. 

“One of the Prefects,” George answered. “It always helps to be nosy.” 

You rolled your eyes as you stepped into the common room behind Fred. 

The warm glow of the fireplace illuminated against the scarlet and gold tapestry and furniture felt like a warm hug against your body. You always felt like you had to double take whenever you looked around this room - the faint smell of cinnamon and burning wood, the gold details woven meticulously in every inch of the rugs and pillows resting on the squashy armchairs. Young students who looked slightly startled were starting to be rounded up to their new dormitories by the prefects, leaving the older kids out for a bit longer. George and Lee took up one of the sofas in front of the fireplace, while Fred sat in one of the armchairs next to them. You went over to him and sat on the arm, almost in line with Fred’s head. After Katie had come up to you and asked you about Cedric, Fred had seemed to be more quiet with you than normal, leaving you to make conversation with Alicia across from you. He began to talk to you again after the announcement, but even then, he didn’t seem like his normal self. It felt weird, having him treat you like anyone else. Like a friend. 

“Are you okay?” you asked him. He nodded, not looking at you. 

“I’m fine, Y/N,” he said, putting an arm behind you to touch the small of your back. He was watching George hand one of their fake wands to a fourth year boy, and witnessed him turn the ornamental basket of fruit on the coffee table into a chorus of singing apples and oranges. Students began to come over in a ruckus, laughing and pointing.

“Can I ask you something?” Fred then said to you over the noise, now looking at you. “Why are you so friendly with Cedric all of a sudden?” 

Bingo. 

Was Fred jealous of Cedric?

Anger boiled up inside you, for what reason you couldn't tell. You had never really had any boundaries with Fred before, but this question felt like crossing the line. You never questioned his friendships with anyone, nor felt like you had to control who and who wasn't his friend. So why did he feel like he had any authority in this?

“Why are you so interested in who I’m friends with?” you said back with venom as the boy cast the wand again, turning the singing fruits into an explosion of what looked like elephant’s toothpaste. 

As Fred opened his mouth to reply, Will Marsden, one of the seventh year Prefects, came down the boy’s dormitory stairs to send you all up to bed. He took one look at the coffee table as George and Lee slunk up the stairs, shook his head, and flicked his wand at the goopy mess to return it to its original form. 

You stood up from the armchair, and began to walk to the stairs leading up to the girl’s dormitories, when you felt a hand grab your arm. You turned to see who it was, and saw Fred looking slightly downcast.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that,” he said. “And I don’t want you to be mad at me.”

You smiled slightly, grateful that he acknowledged the line he crossed. 

“It’s okay,” you said. “You know I’m not going to replace you any time soon, Weasley. You're my best friend, and you're stuck with me forever.” 

He smiled up at you, and pulled you into him for a cuddle. You sighed against his chest as his chin leaned on your head. 

“Sleep tight, Y/N,” he whispered, and let you go. 

“Don’t let the nargles bite,” you said back, and wandered over to the stairs before looking back, catching Fred’s gaze one last time. 

Up in the dormitory, Angelina and Alicia had already settled into their sections of the room, laying on their beds in their Gryffindor pyjamas. Your other roommates were there, too, sitting around plates and packets of food in the middle of the room. 

“Y/N!” they all said in unison, coming up to hug you. Sophie Elliott was first, followed by Mari Magnusson, and then Astrid Kim. You were all good friends, and met in this exact room all those years ago, frightened but intrigued by each other. 

Sophie was a half-blood like you, spending most of her time in the muggle world. She was incredibly pretty, like a young Brooke Shields, with waist length brown hair that you could only dream of having one day. After watching a multitude of eighties movies with your mum, you assumed that Sophie would be a typical conceited mean girl on account of her looks, but she was so far from that. She lived in the village across from yours, and paid a visit to the shop every now and then to say hello and hang out with for the afternoon, which was always a nice surprise. You have always considered her one of your good friends, even though she can be a little shy around people, but she had the most beautiful personality and caring nature that you had ever encountered. 

If Sophie was missing the attitude of a mean girl that usually came with otherworldly looks like hers, then it probably transferred over into Mari at birth. She wasn’t mean to you per say, in fact she was incredibly loyal to her friends, but to an outsider she may seem that way. Her peroxide platinum hair, bleached eyebrows, and piercings that she hid behind her hair intimidated almost everyone, but you knew the real Mari. She was feisty and confident, exuding almost everything you wish you could be. 

And Astrid, she may as well be joined to Mari’s hip. They were neighbours growing up and have been best friends ever since, which made it a bit easier to get to know them in first year since they were already comfortable with each other. Astrid was just like Mari, but without the intimidation and fiery attitude. She was incredibly friendly and extremely funny, and you were always jealous of her porcelain skin and silky black hair that everyone wished they had. 

The girls had laid out the annual “suite welcome back feast” in front of them, which made you smile. You had all agreed at the end of first year that you would do this for the next year you came back, and it has carried over each year. They took you over to the pile of food, probably fit for at least ten more people, you thought to yourself, and remembered you had stowed away some chocolates from home for this feast. You spotted your bag next to your bed, and saw Beetle curled up on top of the burgundy quilt, sleeping soundly next to Sophie’s fluffy white cat Zelda. You didn’t want to disturb them, and quietly opened up your bag, and found the chocolates stuffed in your cauldron. You put them in the pile for the girls to open, and turned back to your cases to unpack your things so you could finally get comfortable and put your pyjamas on. You put your clothes away in the dresser by your bed and placed your books and equipment next to it while Angelina and Alicia sat with the others and began to chat about something you had no interest in. As you finally reached the bottom of your case, something shiny caught your eye. You picked it up, and recognised it immediately. It was the dragon scale that Charlie had given you back at the Burrow. You had forgotten all about it. You placed it on top of the dresser, and put Charlie’s address underneath it, thinking to yourself that you should write to him soon.

“Hey, Y/N,” Mari began to say to you as you slipped your pyjama top on. “What was with the grand entrance this evening?” 

You shook your head, confused. 

“What do you mean?” you asked innocently, turning to sit with the group. 

“With Diggory,” Mari replied, cooing slightly as everyone giggled. You rolled your eyes to yourself. 

“We just got the same carriage,” you told her. “There’s nothing grand about that.” 

“She keeps saying that,” Alicia interjected. “But there’s definitely something going on.” 

“No, there isn’t,” you said calmly, trying to do your best on insisting what they saw wasn’t what they’re thinking it is. “He was just being nice.” 

“It looked a lot more than ‘nice’, Y/N,” Mari said, continuing to persist with this idea. “What does Fred think about all this?”

You laughed at her, and reached for the pillow next to you and threw it in her direction. She tried to dodge out of the projectile, but it struck her arm at the last second, sending you all into a round of laughter.

“Very funny, Mari,” you said, rolling your eyes. 

“And I distinctly remember you making eyes at Pelton several times tonight,” Astrid interjected as she bit into a lolly snake, causing the group to gasp. Ben Pelton was a Hufflepuff seventh year, and everyone knew Mari had a thing for him since first year. 

“I did not,” Mari said defensively. “He happened to look in my direction, and I was just being nice.” 

The conversation continued on with Mari and Astrid laughing as they poked fun at each other. Sophie then steered the conversation into what happened during everyone’s summers and the classes you were going to be taking, and Angelina began to complain about Quidditch being cancelled this year. 

“I tell you what,” she began. “This tournament better be worth losing the week of my life I spent creating my campaign to get captain this year.” 

“You don’t need to campaign,” you said to her. “You would’ve gotten it, and you’ll get it next year.” 

“Oliver made it clear that the captain needed to be voted on by everyone,” Angelina stated. “It would do a disservice to him if someone was just appointed.” 

“Oliver isn’t here anymore,” Alicia pointed out. “So we can just appoint you. I’m sure everyone would be happy about that.” 

“It still means this year is a waste of potential to get us back in the flow of things,” Angelina huffed. “And a year that we won’t be able to play any games or practice.” 

She rested her chin on her fist, and sighed. You realised that she was right - that you only had two years left of school, and they’d be over in a blink of an eye, and so would your quidditch career. But you couldn’t stop thinking about the Triwizard tournament, and how the mystery it was shrouded in made it just a little bit appealing. 

“Are you guys going to put your names forward for that tournament?” you asked everyone, picking out one of your chocolates. 

“I don’t think I can,” Astrid began. “I’m not old enough.” 

“Me too,” Sophie said. “Also, it sounds way too intense for me.” 

“Yeah,” Mari agreed. “When Dumbledore mentioned that people have literally died in this thing before, I think my heart stopped for a second.” 

“I think that they’ve got that under control for this year though,” Alicia said. “They wouldn’t run if it wasn’t safe.” 

“So you’re going for it?” Mari asked. Alicia nodded. 

“Yeah, I think so,” she replied. 

“I will, too,” Angelina said. “May as well do something productive with my time now that I have nothing to do.” 

“You have N.E.W.Ts, Angelina,” you reminded her. “I’ve heard this year is intense. You’ll probably need all the time you can get.” 

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Angelina smiled. You thought back on this and realised that maybe she could handle it - she’s managed way more subjects than you have, and basically assisted Wood with quidditch training the last few years. She’s probably more than capable. 

“Will you go for it, Y/N?” Sophie asked you. 

You had to think about this for a second. The tournament did sound like something that would interest you, and there was a substantial prize involved for the winner. But you knew that Fred and George would never speak to you ever again if you did enter and were chosen to compete. 

“Maybe,” you said. “I’ll have to think about it.” 

Everyone continued to chat with each other before a prefect came around to ask you for lights out. You all nodded and obliged, packing up the snacks and storing them in the bottom of each of your dressers. You scooted Beetle over to the foot of your bed, and Sophie scooped up Zelda in her arms before snuggling down with her. You blew out some of the oil lamps around you while the others did the same. You did your best to find your way back to your bed, knocking into the bedpost before you actually found your bed, and climbed in under the covers. You felt Beetle climb up your legs and sit on your stomach, before sauntering over to your collarbone and curling up on your face, making it hard for you to breathe. You gently moved her to the crook of your neck, and wiped the cat hairs off your face before closing your eyes. 

“Goodnight everyone,” Alicia said. Everyone chimed back a goodnight to her. 

“This is going to be a great year,” Sophie said in the bed next to you. “I can just feel it.”

You couldn’t help but smile, and think the same thing. 

***

“Transfiguration first up?” Alicia sighed as she took a bite of her chocolate croissant. It was the morning of the first day of classes, and you were all sitting along the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall at breakfast. You had just received your timetables from Professor McGonagall, and were comparing them amongst the girls’.

“I’ve got a free,” Angelina said. “Anyone else?” 

You looked at your schedule for today - first up Charms with Professor Flitwick, Defence Against the Dark Arts with Mad Eye Moody after lunch, and a study period before dinner. 

“Not me,” Sophie said across from you, sighing as she twirled a piece of bacon on her fork. “I’ve got Charms.” 

“Me too,” you said, which made Sophie perk up. “With Flitwick?” 

“Yes!” Sophie exclaimed. “Okay, now it doesn’t seem as bad.”

“We have Defence Against the Dark Arts together later with Angelina and Alicia,” Mari said next to you, pointing at your schedule. “And I think you have Potions with Astrid.” 

“Ooh, yay!” Astrid sang next to Mari. “We can be partners.” 

You smiled at her, and nodded at her proposal. 

“What about Care of Magical Creatures?” you asked the group, who shook their heads. 

“Don’t think I picked that one,” Angelina said, scanning over her schedule. 

“Me neither,” Mari said. “Not a fan of those… what were those things last year?” 

“Flobberworms?” you asked her, remembering Mari freaking out as Hagrid handed one to her and it started to crawl up her arm. She shuddered at the name as you all laughed.  
“Looks like I’m on my own for that one,” you said, and kept comparing your timetable with Mari’s. 

It looked like you had a class with at least one friend, which was comforting. But the real question was, is what classes you had with - 

Your schedule was ripped from your hands from a figure you could feel towering over you, which made you jump out of your skin. You looked up, and saw Fred standing next to you with another sheet of paper in his hand with you assumed was his schedule, moving his eyes from side to side as he carefully skimmed both pieces of parchment. George came around the other side of the table, and sat next to Sophie, greeting her with a smile and began to chat and compare timetables with each other. You always thought that George might like Sophie, but you felt like you could never get a read on him, even though you had known him for six years. You noticed that he treated her a little bit differently to everyone else, more gentle and less obnoxious. You and Sophie never really indulged in boy-talk, but you had a silent understanding that you both knew where your feelings for the twins stood. You could tell, even with small mannerisms like twirling her long hair or laughing differently to how she laughs with you, that Sophie had a crush on George. She never really denied it when you mentioned it, rather she’d come back to you about Fred, and you would both go quiet on the topic. 

“Shame,” Fred said, slotting himself between the table and bench beside you and picking up your piece of toast. “We’ve only got two classes together this year, not counting study breaks.” 

You felt your heart sink into your chest as you heard the words come out of his mouth. You didn’t know what it was like to have classes without Fred, and it was going to feel lonely not being able to see him or talk to him as often as you did for the last few years. 

“What classes are they?” you asked him, leaning on his shoulder to look closer at your schedules. 

“Charms and Defence Against The Dark Arts. And then we have all these study breaks together.” 

You watched as his long finger traced your schedule to the empty spaces on each day. 

“It’s not fair that you’ve got more of them than me,” you complained, and he turned his head to look at you, your faces now just inches away from each other’s. 

“Well,” he whispered to you. “If you weren’t such a smarty pants overachiever who’s taking five N.E.W.Ts this year, maybe we would have more time to spend together.” 

You couldn’t help but get lost in his eyes, only just registering what he was saying to you. The morning light hit his sun kissed skin, illuminating small flecks of gold in his brown eyes, something you hadn’t really noticed before. They were enchanting almost, but you had to make yourself look away - although it felt like it, it wasn’t just you and him in this room. 

You straightened up off Fred’s shoulder, and George asked to see your schedule. 

“Lovely,” he said. “We have Charms together, and Herbology tomorrow, oh and Thursday.” 

“Cool!” you said. “What about Care of Magical Creatures?” 

“Uh,” George said dismally. “I think I had to drop that. Clashed with Transfiguration.” 

You rolled your eyes. “So I’m really by myself in that one.” 

“Oh, don’t worry, Y/N,” Fred said, rubbing your back. “The Bowtruckles loved you last year. They should still be there for you.” 

The bell rang for the end of breakfast, and you followed everyone back to Gryffindor tower to get ready for class. You put your robes on over your uniform, and flung your scarf around your neck a few times before collecting your Charms book and wand, and sat on the end of Sophie’s bed to wait for her. Beetle leapt up onto the bed as well, and sat behind Zelda, swatting at her bushy tail as it moved back and forth across the bed. 

“So, do you and George have any classes together?” you asked Sophie as she swept her hair into a half-up-half-down style. 

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” she smiled cunningly as she placed the final pin in her hair. “Do you and Fred have many classes together?” 

You laughed at her question, realising she was giving it to you for stepping over the line. 

“Alright, alright,” you said. “Come on, I think they’re waiting downstairs.”

You picked Beetle up and gave her a squeeze before putting her back down on the bed, and making your way down the stairs to the common room. Fred and George were waiting on one of the sofas, scribbling something down in a little leather-bound notebook. 

“We’re ready, boys,” you said, linking arms with Sophie. They stuffed the notebook into George’s robe, and walked behind you out of the common room. You assumed they were writing something down for Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, but it looked more suspicious than that. Maybe a new idea they wanted to keep secret? 

The Charm’s classroom was a fair way away from the Gryffindor tower, but you didn’t mind - it was nice to just observe the castle and all its intricacies, remembering where you had all your different classes and wondered what was behind some of the doors you had never been through. The courtyard looked busy as you looked down through the windows, and noticed a group of Slytherin students a few years below you skulking around before class. They were fixated on one person in particular, and your skin began to crawl as you noticed who it was - Draco Malfoy. What a slimy git. 

You kept staring at Malfoy as you rounded the corner into the Charm’s corridor, watching him do something no doubt suspicious you thought, while the others walked ahead of you and entered the classroom. You were about to follow them in when a figure in black robes nearly missed you as you veered towards the open doors, making you almost lose your balance. You looked up at them to begin to apologise, but instead was met by a handsome smile, laughing slightly as he held your arm to steady you. You could feel the heat rising up to your cheeks as you tried to cover your face. How many times was this going to happen to you?

“I think I need hazard lights on whenever I want to say hello to you,” Cedric said, smiling down at you.

“I think I just need to watch where I’m going,” you laughed nervously. You could help but stare at him, especially today - he looked like he did back in Flourish and Blotts, all put together, but maybe even more gorgeous. Or maybe this was your pathetic crush making you think he could change his facial structure overnight. 

“Do you have Charms this morning?” he asked you, trying to look at the schedule in your hand. 

“Oh, yeah I do,” you said, and he continued to smile. 

“Me too,” he exclaimed. “Can I look at your other classes?” 

You nodded, and held out the parchment for him to take. He reached into his robe pocket and pulled out his folded schedule and scanned over both of the timetables, and smiled. 

“Finally,” he said. “Someone I know in Care of Magical Creatures.” 

“Are you serious?” you said excitedly, trying to contain your actual level of happiness. You couldn’t wait to rub it in Fred’s face that you actually had a friend in that class. Or maybe it was best not to mention it.

“I have asked literally everyone I know, but no one seems to be taking it this year,” he said. “Luckily I’ve got you now. And in Potions, too, oh, and Defence Against the Dark Arts after break today. And Herbology tomorrow.” 

You wanted nothing more than to melt into the marble floor below you. Was this really happening?

“These are the exact same schedules, even down to the study breaks,” Cedric said, continuing to smile as he handed your schedule back to you. “Well, we’d better sort out our directional issues if we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other.” 

You grinned at him, and noticed that he was staring at you now, looking like he had no intention of moving into the classroom any time soon. You could feel the eyes of everyone walking past on you, whispers and giggles as classmates entered the room behind Cedric. You didn’t really understand what the fuss was all about - you were just talking to a boy. But it was of interest to them as to _who_ exactly you were talking to. And with everyone seeing you walk into the Great Hall together last night, this was going to feed their gossip sessions for about a week now.

“So, how did you take the news about Quidditch this year?” he asked you. 

“Oh, it’s a bit disappointing,” you admitted to him. “I think everyone in the team is a bit frustrated by it.” 

“Yeah, I think we are too,” he said. “A bit of a stab in the chest.” 

“Definitely,” you agreed. “But I guess that tournament must be a big deal for them to cancel Quidditch for a whole year.” 

“Oh yeah,” Cedric chimed. “Are you going to enter?” 

“Maybe,” you pondered. “I think I have to think about it. The part about the death toll…” 

“Yeah, that was a bit unsettling,” Cedric said. “But the prizes…” 

“Mhmm,” you mumbled. “So, you’re going for it?” 

“Yeah, I think so,” Cedric said to you, as the bell began to ring to signal the start of class in five minutes. You began to walk together into the room, and saw Fred sitting at a desk with a free space next to him, and Sophie and George sitting at the desk in front of him. You walked ahead of Cedric to the seat next to Fred, and smiled as you sat down next to him. 

“What took you so long?” he joked as he casually draped his arm on your chair, but looked past you to Cedric who came up behind you. 

You watched him take the spare seat next to a Hufflepuff boy in the aisle across from you. You tried to look away from him, but he caught your gaze as he turned to look at you too, feeling your limbs turn to putty as he grinned at you. You smiled back, and turned to the front of the room as you felt your cheeks set fire, and noticing the slightly sour look on Fred’s face as you turned to him.

"Uh, nothing," you replied to Fred, smiling to diffuse the tension. "I just-." 

Before you could begin to explain yourself, Professor Flitwick apparated to the front of the classroom before you could get one word out. 

You knew that Fred could tell you were talking to Cedric before class, and you did want to tell Fred about it, but you saw how he reacted last night when Katie mentioned how you were talking to him. You didn't fully understand why it got on his nerves so much, but you knew you felt awful trying to hide the real situation, and you also didn’t want to upset Fred anymore. You thought it'd be best to try and limit your interactions with Cedric to suppress your feelings, but you knew this was going to be hard, since you have every class together. 

Professor Flitwick began the lesson with beginning to go over the syllabus that appeared in front of you, and your head began to swim. All these spells and charms seemed so much more difficult than anything you had attempted in previous years, the assignments and exams looked incredibly hard, and you didn’t even want to look at the amount of readings you were going to have to do this weekend. If this was how the rest of your classes were going to be, you were somewhat grateful that no Quidditch this year had left you more time to study. Not to mention the most difficult part of the entire lesson - using every fibre of your being to try not to stare at Cedric.

** 

“What else do you reckon we’ll get to do this year?” Fred began to ponder as you walked with him, George and Lee towards the Great Hall for dinner. The boys were reminiscing on the Defence Against the Dark Arts class you had together this afternoon, which they hadn’t stopped talking about for the whole of your study break afterwards. “This term sounds wicked.”

“Dunno how he got past the Ministry to put curses in the curriculum,” Lee began. “But I’m not complaining, especially since he’s experienced this stuff.” 

“Yeah,” George agreed. “He’s actually had to face these things. That’s bloody awesome.” 

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. Ever since his entrance into the Great Hall, you felt as if there was something off about Professor Moody. You couldn’t quite put your finger on it, but something was telling you he was not as great as the boys were making him sound. You wish someone else felt the same as you did, but whoever you spoke to about him, it was smiles all round.

“Don’t you think that someone who is actually, I don’t know, educated in these things, should be teaching the class?” you asked the group as you entered the hall and joined the end of the line to grab some food. 

“Educated?” George said, taken aback. “Screw that. He’s actually been out there in the real world. He’s put dark wizards away in Azkaban, and seen things we’ll probably never get to see and achieved things we’ll only dream about.” 

“You can’t teach what you don’t know,” Lee added. 

“Yeah,” you agreed. “And he doesn’t know the curriculum, so why should he be allowed to teach us?” 

“There won’t be a curriculum in the real world, Y/N,” George continued. “He’s got way more to teach us than what’s in the margins of that parchment.” 

You shook your head, and realised there was no point in arguing with them - they were convinced Moody is the best thing since sliced bread. 

“She’s allowed to have her opinions,” Fred said defensively, lightly touching the small of your back as you stepped forward in the line, which sent tingles down your legs. “Even if they are wrong.”

He looked down at you, and winked cheekily. You nudged his side with your elbow almost as a reflex, and continued to listen to George and Lee ramble on about the lesson. You finally came up to the tables of food, and grabbed a plate before deciding on what to have. The smells of different trays and bowls began to confuse you, so you settled for the beef casserole and roast vegetables. You followed George down to the Gryffindor table, and sat with Harry, Ron and Hermione. Hermione was just getting out of her seat, and you caught her before she could race off anywhere. 

“Hey, Hermione,” you said. “How are you going?” 

“I’m good, Y/N,” she said. “I’m so sorry but I can’t chat right now, got loads to do.” 

“All good,” you said. “Will you be in the library in say, half an hour?” 

You always liked to study with Hermione when you could. It gave you some time to catch up, since you don’t have classes together, and some motivation to do your work. 

“Definitely,” she said with a smile. “I’ll save you a seat.” 

You nodded, and watched her speed walk out of the hall. You took a seat next to Fred, who had snuck in behind you as you were talking to Hermione, and was now demolishing a pile of different stews and mash potato. 

“Will you ever stop eating?” you asked him. 

“Only when I’m dead,” he said back, taking another spoonful of his plate into his mouth. 

George and Lee had begun to inform Harry and Ron about Professor Moody’s lesson, and the boys were both captivated as they listened to the exaggerations they were hearing. You kept to yourself, pondering the already colossal amount of homework you had to start on. Several rolls of parchment for Charms on the roles that the Reductor curse has played in the last century, and beginning to read your N.E.W.T level Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook, since you weren’t really going to be getting much out of the lessons, you thought to yourself. Angelina and Alicia also both said that their Potions class was way more intense than any other year, so you thought it’d be good to get started on those readings, too. 

“Did you see what happened with Malfoy earlier?” Ron asked everyone, and Harry began to laugh. 

“No, we just came in as Hermione was leaving,” Fred said. “What happened?” 

Ron began to rub his hands together mischievously, and Harry continued to laugh. 

“He was being a right git,” Harry said, stifling his laughter now. “There was one of those Rita Skeeter articles in the Daily Prophet about your dad, and Malfoy kept going on and on about the picture of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, being an idiot. We both got pretty heated at what he was saying, but then Moody comes in, storms up the line to Malfoy, whips his wand out, and turns him into a ferret.” 

“A ferret?” you questioned, as Ron and Harry were sent into a fit of giggles. “Like…” 

“Yeah, an actual ferret,” Harry confirmed in between his laughter. 

“He was bouncing him around, making him do stupid things,” Ron continued. “McGonagall came in after and she was furious with him, saying “We never use transfiguration as punishment” blah blah blah… If you ask me, Malfoy got what he deserved.” 

You had to admit, you were laughing imagining Malfoy being turned into a ferret. He was a nasty kid, and you did agree that he probably did deserve it, but you were also glad that McGonagall had come in to stop Moody. It really wasn’t an appropriate punishment to put someone through, no matter if it was Malfoy or not, and you wondered just how Moody came up with the idea. You already knew you didn’t get a good feeling off him, and this had definitely added to that. 

“See, he is a good teacher,” George said to you, laughing along with Ron and Harry. 

“Yeah, yeah,” you said, and took another bite of your dinner.

As you finished the food on your plate, you placed your cutlery across the plate, and watched it vanish in front of you. You looked to your right, and Fred’s plate was already gone.  
“Are you ready to go?” he asked you. You looked to the others who were still picking at their plates, laughing at something George said. 

“Yeah,” you said. “I’m going to the library though, do you want to come with?” 

Fred smiled at you. “Sure. Can’t guarantee any work will get done, but I’ll come with you.” 

You rolled your eyes, and got up out of your seat as you said goodbye to the others. You really did hope you could at least get something done tonight. You were terrified of what kind of assignments were going to be dropped on you tomorrow. 

** 

The library was already busy by the time you arrived. It was mainly occupied by seventh years, scrounging around for different books and occupying the long mahogany table that spanned the length of the whole room. You had to admit, you really did like the library more than you should. It felt much like the Gryffindor common room - warm and inviting, with the smell of old leather, books and wood lingering in the air. The room was softly lit with many oil lamps along the shelves and tables at this time of night, and the sight of the thousands and thousands of books spanning the walls and shelves made you feel comforted in an odd way. 

You looked up and down the different aisles of bookshelves looking for Hermione, but she was nowhere to be seen. She must’ve left already, you thought to yourself. You found some empty seats nestled in front of one of the last shelves in the library. You began to read over your Charms homework with Fred, who began to at least seem interested in what you were doing. At the sight of all the other students with their noses in books or frantically writing things down with their quills, maybe he realised just how much effort he needed to put in to get things done. He pulled out his copy of the textbook, and began to scan it for any information he could, while you perused the shelves for anything that sounded relevant to Reductor curses. And in no time at all, you both finished your homework with a sigh of relief. It took you less time to do than you originally thought, which you were grateful for. 

“Wow, I didn’t think I’d be able to get that done tonight,” Fred said, closing his textbook with a thud. 

“Yeah, that felt weirdly easy,” you admitted. 

“Well, with our combined forces, I think we did a great job,” he smiled, crossing his arms over his book and laying his head down. “Now, it’s time for bed.” 

“It’s not even eight yet,” you said, looking at the clock behind you. “We have heaps of time.” 

Fred still had his eyes closed and began to pretend to snore, and you shook your head. 

You pulled out some spare parchment, and thought now would be a good time to write to your mum, and to Charlie. You brought his address with you in your pocket, and began to write to both of them. You told your mum how you were going, and what happened at the world cup. You asked her if the shop was okay, and told her that you missed her dearly, which you definitely did. You loved being around your friends when you were at Hogwarts, but being away from you mum for this long always did make you think about her and wish that you could see her. 

Charlie’s letter consisted of saying hello and hoping that he got to Romania okay, and that you would keep him posted regularly and you hoped he would do the same. You knew that he was always busy at work from all the times you had never seen him, but you hoped that he was good at keeping up with letters. You sealed both letters up in a makeshift parchment envelope, scrawled on their addresses, and packed your things up. Fred was still pretending to sleep, but by now you thought that he might be. 

“Fred?” you whispered in his ear. “Are you awake?” 

He grunted in response, and opened one eye to peer at you. 

“Can we stop by the owlery on the way back to the common room? I want to send these off as soon as I can. It’s not that far from here.” 

“Sure…” Fred groaned as he stretched out of his nap. 

You headed out of the library, and it hit you at just how dark it was now. There was hardly anyone around, except the few prefects you walked past on the way and ghosts that floated around, taking no notice of you. The castle always seemed magical to you, but at night, it felt truly enchanting. The fire-lit stone walls and marble floors made you feel like you were walking through a medieval town, and the breezes of night air sent lovely wafts from the kitchens around the castle. It felt a lot different at night, but in your opinion, this was your favourite way of seeing the castle. 

You cradled your things in your right arm, and walked beside Fred towards the owlery, quietly bantering about nothing in particular. He would nudge your side occasionally when he said something funny and you didn’t laugh, and when you reached the steps up to the owlery, he took your hand to help you up on account of the wet weather this afternoon that soaked the slippery steps. Once you hit the straw that lined the floor of the owlery, the cold night air finally hit you as it passed through the windowless gaps in the walls. You pulled your scarf around you even tighter, and placed your things down on a bench that was free of any owl droppings. 

“Pig might be around if you’d like to use him,” Fred said, looking around at all the owls now hooting as they spotted you. “I’m sure Ron won’t mind. Oh, there’s Errol.”

“Would he even make it to Romania?” you asked, remembering how directionally challenged he was, and thought that a school owl might be better suited for the journey. 

“Yeah, probably not,” Fred agreed. You found a pretty barn owl, who excitedly took to your arm as you loaded up the letter to your mum. You gave its face a few strokes with your finger, and extended your arm to let it take flight. The other owls began to flap their wings excitedly, and a few more approached you in hopes they would be chosen to deliver your other letter. You tried to find the largest owl out of the bunch, as you thought it would have a better chance of travelling all that way and back, and spotted a rather large horned owl as it came up to you with a mouse in its beak, which it dropped at your feet. 

“Lovely,” you complained, and handed your letter to it. “Get there safely, okay?”

You watched it launch up into the room with its huge wingspan, and exit out one of the highest windows in the tower. 

“Are you ready to go?” you asked Fred, who was looking around at all the birds perching on the openings in the tower as he leant against the wall next to some sleeping owls. 

“Soon,” he replied. “I think I want to savour this moment a little longer.” 

You smiled as you watched him look around the moonlit room. You never knew Fred to be this sentimental about things, but it warmed your heart to see him so indulged in his own thoughts. The light breeze passing through the tower was ruffling his hair and sending a chill throughout the room, making the owls bury their faces into their necks, but Fred didn’t seem to mind.

“Come over here,” he asked you, his voice echoing through the tunnel shaped room. He was now looking over in your direction, and you couldn’t help but continue to smile at him. You walked over to him, and he extended his hand out to you, which you took, and felt a squeeze as you neared closer to him. You felt like your whole body was about to catch alight, and you were sure Fred could feel the heat radiating off your body. He moved off the wall, and led you over to the centre of the room where you almost collided together as he stopped in his tracks. You laughed as you came apart, making sure you were both okay, and you felt Fred’s other hand rest on your waist, pulling you closer to him. He then maneuvered your hands out, and moved your other hand to rest on his shoulder, and he began to waltz with you. 

“What are you doing?” you whispered to him, laughing as he glided with you across the straw at your feet.

“Nothing,” he said, continuing to lead you in no particular style that you were managing to keep up with. “What are you doing?” 

“You’re insane, Weasley,” you giggled, looking up into Fred’s eyes as you felt him adjust to move closer to you. You could just make out that sparkle in his eyes against the moonlight, that same one you’d seen a multitude of times. You felt warm as you observed his soft freckled skin, the grin on his lips as he smiled down at you, the slight smell of cinnamon that lingered around him. If this was anyone else, you might've felt a bit strange just slow dancing in the school's owlery. But nothing about this felt strange to you. In fact, it felt normal, comfortable almost. You felt as though in this moment, time was standing still, and it was just you and Fred standing in this small corner of the world. You’d never know for sure, but something was telling you that he was feeling the same - the way he was looking at you, the closeness of your bodies, how he didn’t seem to want to let you go. It was almost like there was something out there pulling you two together, whether it was fate or destiny or some other higher entity, you somehow knew that this was meant to be. You had one chance before, after the Quidditch match at the Burrow, and you didn’t want this one to slip away. 

But, you also knew that you had to. 

You weren’t sure of his feelings. You didn’t want to ruin six years of friendship over a stupid mistake that you could have easliy avoided. And then, there was Cedric. You couldn’t help but feel something towards him, even though you did your best today in trying to avoid him - he was sweet, incredibly handsome, and seemed to be somewhat interested in you. But Fred was all of those things, too. You were confused, and you didn’t want to add those feelings for Cedric into this already weird and unclear relationship with Fred. You needed time to suppress the crush you had on Cedric before you could even bring yourself to even imagine a relationship with Fred, if it were to even happen. 

“We should probably get back,” you said finally. Fred nodded, and stopped as he took his hand from your waist. 

“Yeah, it’s pretty late,” he admitted. “Don’t want to get caught.” 

You followed him down the stairs, and down through the corridors to the moving staircases to ascend to the seventh floor. You were lucky that you left when you did - the reminder chimed around the walls of the corridors that curfew would be in thirty minutes, and students were still out around the campus, with most heading back to their dorms, like you were. 

In the common room, it looked like everyone had gone up to bed already. The room was empty, and the fireplace was just a dim glow rather than the roaring flames you were used to. 

“Are you going up to bed?” Fred asked you. You didn’t really realise it when you were walking back to the common room, but you were immensely tired. You could feel your eyelids getting heavy, and your body slowing down for the night. 

“I think so,” you told him. “Long day.” 

He nodded in agreement, and enveloped you in a long, warm hug. 

“Goodnight, Y/N,” he whispered to you. 

“Goodnight, Fred,” you said back as he released you from his arms. You held your hand up to his cheek, and held it there for a second, before retracting it to your side. He smiled again, and ruffled the top of your head before turning to go up the stairs that led to the boys dormitory, leaving you with a smile on your face, and the memories of that night slow dancing in the owlery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took SO long to upload, I've been super busy with school and work but I made sure this was another long one to tie you all over with. I have some big plans for this story, and I'm so thankful for the support and love it's been getting. Thank you all so much and I'm so appreciative of everyone who takes time out of their day to read it!!


	8. To Dream In Fear

The following weeks at Hogwarts were beginning to fly by and blur into one another. Classes passed you by in the blink of an eye, and before you knew it, you were in your study periods with mountains of work to do with no end in sight. 

You were somewhat relieved that Quidditch had been cancelled for this year, as it left a lot of free time for you to catch up with your never ending homework, but not everyone agreed. Angelina was incredibly restless, signing up for every extra-curricular she could on top of her almost full timetable - Charms club, Art club, even Gobstone club. Fred and George were also extremely jittery, like there was a build up of energy in every muscle in their bodies that they needed to get out. You, Katie and Alicia were all fine, but you could tell that they both missed playing. Admittedly, you did too, but valued the free time more than having it chewed up by grueling training sessions.

Professors were becoming increasingly stressed as the weeks progressed, trying to spiff up the castle and keep students in line before the guests arrived, which you assumed would be soon. Argus Filch, the resident caretaker, was never seen without a broom, chasing after students who trudged through the corridors with muddy shoes. Professors were always out and about during breaks, observing students as they passed through the halls, picking out undone top buttons and robes that had pulls forming on the seams, and giving out detentions for any kind of behaviour deemed out of line. 

Each Tuesday and Thursday afternoon was met with a dreadful feeling as you entered the dungeons with Astrid for your Potions lesson. Professor Snape had been particularly vindictive this year, picking on students for the smallest mistakes they were making with their Draught of the Living Dead, or sending students to detention and revoking house points for seemingly inconsequential actions. Admittedly, it was annoying when students would disrupt the lesson, but things like taking notes when he was giving a lecture at the beginning of the lesson, or even asking a question with what Snape deemed an obvious answer would earn you a one way ticket into his bad books. There was a vile of Felix Felicius up for grabs for the best Draught, but every week the opportunity passed for the class, since no one's was good enough for the reward. 

“Why’s he in such a bad mood today?” you whispered to Astrid as you exited the classroom one Tuesday afternoon, commenting on how particularly ruthless Snape was being with some Ravenclaw students during the lesson.

“Don’t know, really,” Astrid said. “But I bet it has something to do with Professor Moody. Everyone knows he’s been after Moody’s job for years, so he’s probably pissed off that he didn’t get it again.” 

“That does make sense,” you agreed. “Too bad he was so rubbish at Defense when he took over for Lupin last year.” 

“Yeah,” Astrid giggled. “We’re going over werewolves this week. Not like we didn’t do that for a whole month last year.” 

The one thing that was worth looking forward to during these draining weeks was the letters that you got from your mum, and from Charlie. 

Mum’s letters were always the same - asking if you were okay, if you were managing school okay, and that everyone was asking after you in the shop. You felt like you could feel the sincerity of every word when you read them on the pages of lined paper, and loved every pressed flower that she managed to include in the envelope. Charlie’s first letter turned up as a surprise one Tuesday morning as you were eating breakfast with everyone. The horned owl that you sent him that night in the owlery hooted at you as it waited for you to open the letter. You gave it some of your pastry to thank it for its long journey, which it took in an instant before taking off in a flurry. You unfolded the piece of parchment, which unveiled three different pieces of paper which fluttered onto the table. You smiled as you read the unexpectedly fancy cursive on the folded parchment: 

_Dear Y/N,_

_Thank you for the letter, it’s great to hear from you! I hope your sixth year is as eventful as it can be. Everything is great here. We have something big planned for next month which is taking up a lot of our time, and I also have some Norweigan Ridgeback eggs that are incubating at the moment which are on track to hatch in December. I wish you could see them for yourself, but I’ll be sure to update you on their progress. In the meantime, please enjoy these photos of my new crowning achievements, aka my new injuries. A nasty new Hungarian Horntail has come into our possession, emphasis on the word_ nasty. _I’ll definitely be keeping in touch with you, and hope to hear all about your classes as soon as possible._

_Charlie_

You handed the letter over to Fred, who didn’t seem to care for it as much as he passed it back to you almost instantly. He was more interested in the other pieces of paper in front of you, which displayed several different angles of Charlie’s left arm, which was bandaged with thick pieces of gauze.

“That’s wicked!” Fred exclaimed as he shuffled the photos back and forth, glaring wide eyed at his brother’s arm. You rolled your eyes, and continued with your pastries and cup of tea in front of him, re-reading the letter. You could really only dream of having a career like Charlie’s, despite the seemingly ever present safety hazards.

With the amount of work that was given to you across the board from every professor, it was hard to squeeze in time to see Fred. You only really got to see him during breakfast, at dinner and every now and then in the common room after class. You tried your best to see him in your study periods that lined up together, but it was hard when you only had two classes together. You would study for Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts sometimes, but after classes and lunch it was hard to get him to pay attention. He would distract you by talking about anything else except class, or ask if you wanted to just walk around together for the next two hours. Sometimes you took him up on the offer, and it was nice to take a proper break with just you two being together when the castle was relatively quiet, but more recently it just wasn’t possible. You could feel yourself getting behind on your work, and you needed every hour possible to get everything done. You could see that it was beginning to get to him when you kept turning him down or would sit with Sophie, Mari and Astrid instead of him, but you needed to focus. It felt strange not being with him all the time like you used to, and you could feel yourself beginning to miss him. But all your N.E.W.T subjects needed attention, and you couldn’t seem to catch a break.

And then there was the Cedric dilemma. You were trying your hardest to forget about the silly little crush you had on him, but it was proving to be more difficult than you anticipated. He was always in your periphery, whether it was sitting near you in class or trailing behind you to lunch after one of your classes. It was relatively easy to forget about him when he was engaged with his friends during class, or was being followed by a group of chattering girls (Katie included), and when you remembered the reason why you were trying to suppress your feelings (Fred’s sour reactions whenever Cedric was mentioned in conversation), but sometimes you just couldn’t help yourself - like now for instance, noticing him standing diagonally across from you in the Herbology greenhouse. His sharp features stood out on his softly freckled skin and sweeping brown hair fell into his pale grey eyes as he bent over to examine the fungus in front of him. It was almost hypnotic in a way that was so effortless, the way he carried himself and turned to his friend to bring him closer to examine something. It was a wonder how even he could look so gorgeous in the ghastly greenhouse coat...

“Y/N?” you heard your name being called from behind you. You shook yourself out of your daze, and turned to your partner, George, who was looking at you most unimpressed. “The spray bottle?” 

You looked at your dragonhide-gloved hands, which were already holding the metal bottle, and passed it to George whilst mumbling an apology. He began to spray down the fungus in front of him to observe if any reaction occurred. 

“Are you doing okay?” he asked you, ticking off boxes on his fungus classification handout. “You seem a bit...distracted.” 

“I’m fine,” you insisted, and turned back to your sheet. “What did you get for this one?” 

George skimmed the columns in front of him, and compared it against the chart Professor Sprout had provided you. 

“Erm,” George started. “It has all the right criteria for a leaping toadstool, but I haven’t seen it move yet.” 

“It looks more like a death cap,” you observed, noticing the faint multicoloured spots on its surface. “It shouldn’t react with anything.” 

“How do you know that ‘Miss Smarty-Pants?” George mocked. You rolled your eyes, and pointed to the handout under the heading Death Caps, outlining its tendency to be multicoloured and unreactive. “Oh. That makes sense.” 

You filled out your worksheet, and looked over the rest of the work you had to do. There were a few more fungi to look at, and a half hour left until break. 

“Which one should we do next?” you asked George. He looked over his sheet, and smiled. 

“How about….St. George’s mushroom?” he said in his most snobbish accent, which made you giggle. 

“Aye aye, captain,” you said, and scraped back your stool on the concrete, and approached the front of the room with your death-cap to switch it over. A Slytherin student hovered next to you on your left, looking over his options, too. There were only a few specimens left on the table - a few large mushrooms you had already looked at this morning, some staghorns in jars, and some other fungi in dishes you had done last week, but no St. George’s mushroom. You put the death-cap down in front of you, and reached for the staghorn jar whilst preparing what to say to George to keep the disappointment to a minimum. 

“Were you looking for anything in particular?” a voice said next to you as you felt someone come up on your right. You turned and saw Cedric looking at you, which sent your stomach flipping inside your abdomen as he smiled at you. 

“Oh, um,” you stuttered, trying your best to collect yourself. “St. George’s mushroom?” 

“I think we did that one last week,” Cedric said as he reached in front of you to take the death cap you had placed down, obviously not caring about personal space as he lent down, his face so close you could now see the constellations of freckles scattered on his cheeks up close. “Not reactive with water, but does give off a pungent kind of smell when it is wet. Oh, and it is safe to eat, but I wouldn’t trust it. Lucas was up for it but even Professor Sprout wasn’t sure.”

You nodded, and smiled shyly, trying to hide the blush that had rushed up to your face. “Thanks, Cedric.”

“Anytime, Y/N,” he said, and you turned to head back to your seat with a grin on your face. You could see that George was watching you as you returned, his eyes boring into yours.

“I get it now,” George began to say as you sat down next to him. You put the jar down in front of him, and did your best to ignore him by looking over the staghorn column on the handout. 

“Get what?” you said, examining the small mushrooms sprouting in the tall jar. In your periphery you could see Cedric returning to his seat, too, but you didn’t dare look. You could feel George’s eyes scanning your every movement.

“You,” George began. “It’s a bit obvious, isn’t it?” 

Great. George was always very observant, and was able to pick up on things even you couldn’t put together at first. He always knew that there was something going on between you and Fred, even from first year. He picked up on things quickly, and teased everyone about it every chance he got. Like when Percy first started to like Penelope Clearwater, George always found a way to bring it up to his poor brother, who had just about had enough and started dating her to shut him up. And now, he was onto you. 

“What’s obvious?” you said in the most blase way, trying to figure out if the staghorns had sprouted any offspring, like it says on the sheet. 

“You know,” George sang quietly so no one else could hear. “Your little crush.” 

You shook your head. “I don’t have a crush, George.” 

“Oh sure you do,” he said. “But that’s not the one I’m talking about.” 

You rolled your eyes to yourself. “Would you give that up already?”

“No,” he said matter-of-factly. “And you know exactly who I’m talking about. About yea high, brown hair…” He hushed his voice into a whisper. “We met up with him at the world cup, Hufflepuff quidditch captain, prefect…” 

“Stop,” you whispered back. There was no way that you were ever going to let up on this, even if it was true. George would have no trouble telling Fred about this, and no doubt he already has, so there was no point in adding anything to egg him on. “I don’t like him like that. We’re just friends, and that’s it.” 

George leaned back, and huffed. “Okay, no need to be snakey about it.” 

You elbowed him in the arm. “I’m not,” you insisted. “You’re just being a twat as per usual. Now, I have the answers for the St. George’s mushroom, if you want them.” 

“Oh, I wonder where you got them from?” George cooed, before you poked your finger into his ribs. 

The rest of the day went by slowly. You met up with Sophie during the break between Herbology and Potions, going over the most recent Charms homework together in some seats at the long table in the idle of the library. You noticed Cedric sitting with one of his friends a few seats down, looking as if they were playfully arguing about something. You watched for a moment as Sophie read out a passage of the Charms textbook, and you had to admit that Cedric was looking particularly good today. His hair was different - not so tame or put together, more scruffy, but even then it still made him look gorgeous. He had loosened his tie to undo the top button of his shirt, and had lost his robes in favour of his grey school jumper. You kept staring for a moment, watching him smile and laugh with the other Hufflepuff boy, and couldn’t help but grin, and realise that you should probably stop looking before someone notices. 

Fred and George were nowhere to be seen in the library, so you assumed they might be in the common room. They were doing that quite a bit, you realised. It seemed suspicious to you, but you thought it must have something to do with Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. And if not, you really didn’t want to know what kind of mischief they were up to. 

After lunch, you met up with Astrid in the common room to head down to the dungeons together for your dreaded Potions lesson. But to your surprise, Snape was being less snarky than usual, and had awarded Astrid the Felix Felicis for her “tremendous feat” in making the perfect Draught of the Living Dead. 

“How did you do it?” you asked Astrid on the way out of the dungeon. 

“Oh,” Astrid said. “I forgot my textbook, actually, and just picked one off the shelf before we got started. It had some notes in the margins which turned out to make everything work way better than my one last week.”

“That’s pretty lucky,” you said. “Maybe you don’t even need that potion, after all.” 

You met up with the other girls in the dorm, and wandered down to dinner together. Fred and George were sitting in the middle of some Gryffindor boys at the table, telling what looked to be a most riveting story. 

“What do you think they’re up to?” Sophie asked you. 

“Not sure,” you answered, moving up in the queue as more students began to head to their tables. The boys around them erupted into a cackle of laughter, making you frown. “But whatever it is, it must be hilarious.” 

After dinner, you were helping Ginny out with her Care of Magical creatures homework in the common room. Everyone seemed to be packed around the fireplace tonight - Astrid and Mari were reading the latest copy of Witch Weekly, Sophie was practicing a Transfiguration spell on the coffee table, which you gathered was to turn a teacup into a gerbil. Fred and Geroge had cornered themselves off to the room, scrawling something down in their notebook again, with Ron and Harry hanging over them to try and get a peek of what they were up to. Alicia and Angelina were on the sofa next to you, reading the Daily Prophet. 

“This Rita Skeeter character is a real piece of work,” you overheard Angelina say. 

“Yeah,” Alicia sighed. “But who believes any of that crap anyway.” 

Hermione came into the room whilst you were going over Flobberworm anatomy with Ginny. She was loudly shaking a tin, harassing a group of fifth year boys for some sort of donation. 

“Care to donate to S.P.E.W?” she asked you. “I can give you both some pins if you like, free of charge. As long as you wear them.” 

“S.P.E.W?” Ginny questioned. 

“Yes, S.P.E.W,” Hermione confirmed, handing you both bright green badges with purple calligraphy. “Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.” 

You shrugged and pinned the badge to your robes, and slipped a small donation into her tin so she would hopefully leave you and Ginny in peace. 

The prefects came down an hour later to announce lights out, and you collected your things to head back to your dorm. You could feel your eyelids beginning to close over, and a yawn escaped your mouth as you said goodnight to Ginny. You waved at the twins in the corner, who waved back without looking at you. You wondered what could be so important that they were writing down all the time. But the thought escaped your mind as you came to your bed, changing out of your uniform and placing it in the hamper next to the door, and changing into your pyjamas before hitting the pillow, drifting off to sleep almost instantly. 

***

_It began almost suddenly. The terror that overtook your body surged a mighty pang as you watched a man sprint through a thick forest. He was panting heavily as he continued to run over the twisted roots, taking every step carefully, but making good pace. His linen button-down shirt was stained with sweat from almost every surface of his body, his white trainers now doused in mud and dirt. You couldn’t only feel, but see the sheer fright he displayed behind his metal rimmed glasses. He was running from something, but what, you couldn’t make out. Up ahead, you could see a small wooden cabin sitting in a clearing. It was appearing in and out of your vision, concealing itself from your view when you weren’t directly looking at it. As he approached it, now stumbling over his own feet, he climbed the stairs onto the veranda, and knocked twice, then three times, then once. The door swung open at the correct sequence, and he entered. You followed him in as the door shut quietly, and a column of locks began to click into place behind you. The stranger lent his back against the door, and began to slide down to the floor. It was only now that you could make out his face. Rugged features that looked rather weathered, stubble poking through his sweat stained skin, deep brown eyes with purple bags positioned under them, and floppy brown hair that matched. He looked familiar, but not from any recent interactions, more from a memory rooted deep somewhere in your mind. You couldn’t seem to put a name to his face, but there was that familiarity there that put you somewhat at ease. He sat for a while, catching his breath and wiping the sweat beading on his forehead. His head slumped down as he rested his arms on his knees, and coughed up something dark, and you knew as your heart sank into your feet that it was blood. You observed his exposed forearms as they rested, slashes of red skin growing more apparent as you looked closer at them. A deep purple bruise began to form on his left eye, and a split was now opening on his bottom lip. You blinked, not being able to believe what you were seeing, and the injuries flitted away as if they were never there in the first place._

_He sat for what felt like hours, day turning to night, his breaths the only thing filling the silence. In the distance, you could hear an owl hooting softly as the sun sunk beneath the horizon._

The man then made his first move. 

_He slowly got back onto his feet, and peered out of the small semicircle window at the top of the door. He stayed there for a while, glaring out into the moonlit trees, becoming tense at the sound of any rustling. He then settled back, standing a few inches from the door, as if he was getting ready to run again._

_“Come on, Simon,” he said to himself, shaking his head. “You can do this.”_

_He flipped the bottom of his shirt up to reveal his wand, and pulled it out of the waistband of his pants. He pointed it at the several locks on the door, which began to click as he moved it down to the final lock next to the doorknob._

_And that’s when it happened._

_An ear piercing shriek rippled through the air, shattering the windows inside the cabin. Shards of glass clattered and chimed against the floor and benches, and the stranger covered his head with his arms as he crouched down to protect himself from the falling pieces. The front door opened with a thud, falling to the floor in front of the man, and two dark figures stood towering in the doorway. You tried to move your body, but even with every fibre of your being begging you to do something, you were frozen in place._

_“Come out, come out wherever you are,” a scratchy voice sang, and its accompanying body stepped into the dim light of the room. It was another man, dressed in a long trench with wet hair that stuck to his noticeably large forehead. His smile revealed yellowing teeth, and he licked his lips as he looked at the stranger crouched on the floor. “Well, you’re no good at this game.”_

_The man pointed his wand at Simon, who was now scooting back on his hands along the shards of glass as the man kept stepping towards him._

_“There’s nowhere to run,” the man said, and the door slammed shut as the second person entered the room._

_“What shall we do, Barty?” the second person asked._

_“I think,” Barty began, taking one final step towards Simon. “It goes something like this.”_

_Simon’s back was now firmly against the wall. His breathing was shallow as he huffed and squirmed around, trying to look for any way out of this safe house. But it was no use. He was shattered, physically and emotionally. Whatever was going to happen next, you held your breath for him._

_“Crucio!”_

You inhaled a sharp breath as your eyes flashed open, revealing the dimly lit ceiling of your dormitory.

You flipped over and glanced at your pocket watch on your nightstand. 5:55am. Only around half an hour before you had to get up. There was no point trying to get back to sleep, you thought, so you sat upright in your bed, trying not to wake up Beetle. 

You looked out to the courtyard through the window next to Astrid’s bed, watching the soft patter of an early morning shower hit the window. You had to take a moment to process what just happened. You hadn’t had this recurring dream in a long time. You could feel the puffiness in your eyes, and something almost sticky-like on your cheeks. The shakiness in your breath and hands made it difficult to leave without making a sound like you hoped you could. You swung your legs over the side of the bed, and sat for a moment to gather yourself.

This couldn’t be happening, you thought to yourself. Not again. 

You tiptoed out of the room, and into the bathrooms on your floor. As you closed the door behind you, you realised it was empty, and sighed. You took yourself over to one of the showers, and began to run the hot water. You watched it run down into the drain, your eyes fixed on the small streams spurting out of the old shower head. It was probably hot by now, you thought. But even then, it took what felt like all of your willpower to move your leg to step into the puddle that had formed on the tiles. As the water finally hit your skin, a tingle ran through your body, and you pulled the shower curtain across for privacy. You moved your face under the water to try and wash away the empty feeling that the dream had left with you, but even that didn’t seem to help.

This dream. It was rooted so deep in your subconscious, shoved in a small box within a small box and pushed to the extremities of your mind to suppress it. But even then, somehow it always manages to come to the surface when you least expected it to. It was almost like an omen, or a curse. When you heard his name, you knew exactly who it was, but in your dream-like state it was hard to read his face. That man, the one you never knew, only hearing about him in passing as if he was still alive. But you knew this wasn’t true. 

You stood under the running water for what felt like an eternity, cradling your arms to feel some sort of comfort around your body. The water was so warm, so alleviating, seeping into your skin to relax your muscles, and you didn’t want it to end. You splashed your face under the stream, letting the water envelop you in its heat, when you heard the door to the bathroom creak open, followed by a few pairs of footsteps and several voices chiming in laughter. The serene peacefulness of the empty bathroom had dissipated as the girls continued to chatter and turn on the other shower heads. You turned the taps off, and stood for a minute to dry off before you felt like getting out and pretending like everything's okay. 

But it wasn’t. 

Something felt wrong, and that dream meant something, something bad. 

As you opened the doors to the dormitory in your towel, you saw that everyone was already dressed in their robes, about to head out to breakfast. 

“Good morning,” they all chimed, and you smiled back, trying to at least fake some kind of contentment. You went over to your bed, and found your uniform and robes waiting on your bed, all washed and ironed. Everyone carried on with the conversation you guessed was happening before you entered, and began to discreetly change into your fresh clothes, using the wardrobe’s door for some decency.

“But don’t you think if she shaved her head rather than cut it short she’d look so much better?” Astrid continued. “If i were her, that’s what I’d do.” 

“She can’t help that Colin did that to her,” Alicia said. “If it wasn’t for him frying the ends of her hair off, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” 

“Even just thinking of the smell of burnt hair makes me want to puke,” Mari stated, scrunching up her nose. 

“Well, have you completely lost your appetite for pancakes this morning?” Astrid asked. 

“Maybe not completely,” Mari said. 

“Let’s get down there before they’re all gone!” Alicia said excitedly, and opened the door to head down to the Great Hall. The girls began to file out of the room, and shut the door behind them, leaving you and Sophie behind. She was laying on her bed, her light brown mane of hair flayed out beneath her as she played with Zelda. 

“I heard you get up this morning, but you didn’t come back for ages,” she commented as you looped your tie around your neck. “Is everything okay?” 

“Uh, yeah,” you said, quite convincingly even if you did say so yourself. “I just woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, and the hot water just felt so nice, I think I just lost track of time.” 

She looked at you as you put your arms through the sleeves of your robes, almost suspiciously. 

“If you’re sure,” she said, and rolled off the bed onto her feet. “Now, are you ready for pancakes? It won’t be another month until we get them again.” 

You smiled at her, but shook your head. “You go, I need to finish getting ready.” 

“Alright,” she said softly. She turned to open the door, but turned back to face you. “You know, you can tell me anything, right?” 

You nodded. You knew that you could talk to her about anything, but maybe nothing like what just happened. “I know.” 

“Good,” she said. “I’ll see you down there.” 

And before you knew it, you were alone in the dorm. You quickly threw your hair into a bun, and gave Beetle a cuddle and an attack of kisses before laying her down on your bed and heading down to the common room. 

All you had to do was just pretend, you thought to yourself. And then everything will feel normal.

The common room looked rather empty, apart from someone sitting in the slouchy armchair. They turned to look at you as you stepped onto the landing, and you felt at ease as you recognised Fred’s smile.

Your plan was going to be a lot harder than you realised. 

“Morning sleeping beauty,” he said, getting up out of the chair. “You’re a bit later than usual, everyone’s already down there, but I think if we head off now we can make it in time for pancakes.” You nodded, and began to walk towards the common room door. 

_“Crucio!”_

You shook your head slightly and squinted your eyes shut. The thought was toying with your mind now, showing you Simon’s wide eyes and pale skin as the wand pointed at his face, red sparks beginning to spurt out the tip. 

“Y/N?” Fred said, crouching slightly to meet your face. His hand rested on your shoulder, shaking you slightly to get your attention. “What’s going on?” 

You turned in his direction, unable to look at him. He tilted your chin up to meet his eyes, his brows furrowed in concern. 

“Was it another dream?” Fred asked you softly. “About your dad?” 

Your eyes glossed over, staring at nothing as you recalled the tortured face that preyed on your subconscious. 

“Yes,” you muttered. 

“Was it as bad as last time?” he asked again, now resting his hand on your knee. The last time this happened was in your first year at Hogwarts. Back then, the dream felt substantially worse since it hadn’t come back in such a long time. But now, you felt somewhat numb to it, but squirmed as you remembered the first time it ever happened - the night of your father’s death. You were just four years old. Ever since then, you would have the same vivid, almost tangible dream playing out before your eyes as if you had detached from your body. It was almost like torture, watching the man that you now know is your father go through what you assumed was his last moments. 

“No,” you said. “But I can’t really tell.” 

“Do you think it’s time to see Professor Trelawney about it?” he said. 

“No,” you said through your teeth. “She can’t help me.” 

“But Y/N,” Fred began to push. “If it’s something like a prophecy, then maybe she can help us.” 

“How can it be a prophecy?” you said, tears pooling in your eyes. “My dad is gone. And I’m reminded of it whenever I have this stupid dream. And I don’t know why I have them and I probably never will.” 

“But you had them last year,” Fred said. “But something different. What was it?” 

You remembered vividly what those dreams were. They felt cold and empty, different to this one. 

“A black dog, and a werewolf,” you recalled. “And dementors, and Harry falling off his broom.” 

“And the year before that?” Fred asked. You held your head in your hands. You didn’t want to keep talking about it, but Fred kept pushing it out of you. Maybe he’d stop if you answered him. “The basilisk,” you muttered. “But that doesn’t mean anything.” 

“I think it means a lot more than you think it does. And I think Professor Tr-” 

“Look, I know that you want to help me, but I think that involving her would just make everything more complicated. Her pushing for answers and being a member of staff, she’d have to tell Dumbledore about it. And I don’t want them to know about it. It’s probably nothing for them to be concerned about.” 

Fred moved in closer to you, now rubbing his hand in slow circles on your back. 

“And it only happens when bad things are going to happen,” you said. “But how come I didn’t dream about what happened at the World Cup? I can’t help but think if I did, then I could’ve helped.” “Maybe it’s something about being back here, at school,” Fred suggested. “You’re using your magic a lot more here than you can in the real world.” 

“Maybe,” you whispered. “But I just want to deal with this on my own for now. Maybe it’s for the best if I don’t know what it is.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to push you. I just want to figure this out with you.” 

“I know,” you said, and you lent into him with a sigh. He rested his head on yours, and you sat for a while in silence. It was hard to wrap your head around these visions you’d been having, especially the one that was still lingering in your mind. It hurt to see him, and it was like your mind couldn’t stop gnawing and agitating the nerves that housed the memory. The distress. The pain. The surrender. 

Something felt really wrong. But what exactly, was what you didn’t want to find out. 

“How about after dinner tonight, we go study together,” Fred said. You sat upright, and nodded. 

“That sounds nice,” you replied, smiling slightly. 

“Great,” Fred said, seemingly scanning your face which made the corner of your mouth turn up even more. “I’ve missed you, you know? Not seeing you in every class is very…” 

“Weird?” you suggested. Fred nodded. 

“Yes. Weird,” he agreed. “You’ve been so busy studying, I barely get to see you anymore.” 

“I know. I’m sorry,” you apologised. 

“Don’t be silly, Y/N,” Fred dismissed. “You don’t have to apologise to me. We can catch up tonight, okay?” 

You nodded again, smiling properly now. Fred grinned back in response, and grabbed your hand from your lap. It felt good to confide in Fred about this instead of bottling it up, before it eventually explodes out of you, or something worse happens. The way he was holding your hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb, made clear the unspoken reassurance he was giving you. It was almost grounding you in reality, making you feel comfortable and secure. Something that you needed so desperately to feel somewhat okay again. 

“Are you ready for pancakes?” Fred asked, taking you out of your thoughts. “If we power-walk we’ll get there just on time.” 

“Yeah,” you said, and Fred got up from the sofa, and hauled you up with him. “I don’t want to make you miss out.” 

“Oh, Y/N,” Fred cooed, bundling you into his chest in one swift movement. It caught you off guard, and you were paralyzed for a second. “Don’t worry about me.” 

“I always do, Weasley.” 

You sat down next to Sophie in the Great Hall with what looked to be the runts of the pancakes on offer this morning. 

“Oh, Y/N,” Sophie said with a mouthful of syrup and fruit. “You just missed it, but an owl dropped off a parcel for you.” 

She picked it up off the bench next to her, and handed it to you. It was no bigger than one of your textbooks, but felt surprisingly dense to how light it felt in your hands. You untied the knot of twine, and ripped open the parcel. 

“What is it?” Sophie asked, looking curiously. 

You picked up the leather pouch that was now revealed to you, and opened the small press stud that looked to be holding it all together. A flurry of papers with perfect cursive handwriting and pencil sketches of what looked like dragon anatomy slid across the table, and you scrambled to collect them all. You placed them all back in the pouch, and lifted it up to reveal a small envelope. “I think it’s from Charlie,” you told Sophie. You placed the pouch down, and flipped open the envelope. 

_Y/N,_

_I hope your week is going well. The new module sounds amazing! Although I am particularly biased, winged creatures are my favourites, besides Nifflers. I’ve included in this parcel a segment of the research I have been conducting over the last year that I mentioned over the summer. It’s all about dragon taming, and I thought that you might be particularly interested in it, and I wanted you to be the first to see it. I hope you can get to it soon and send back some feedback I am desperate for. Happy reading._

_Charlie._

You smiled as you read the letter over and over again. Finally, you thought. Something good happened today. 

***

The walk down to Hagrid’s hut in the brisk morning air always made you feel at ease. It was always nice to be around your friends, but it was even better to spend some time by yourself, indulging in the enchanting surrounds of the castle in silence. At breakfast, it was becoming increasingly more exhausting to put up the front that you were - laughing, smiling, talking - when all you wanted to do was hide under your covers all day, but it was starting to become easier to forget about the dream after receiving the package from Charlie, and as you were beginning to convince yourself that you were okay, too. At least now you could stop pretending, even for a few minutes. 

You started down the flights of moving stairs with your books in tow, already having said goodbye to everyone in the common room to get there on time. You made it to the quadrangle, which was already bustling with students moving in every direction possible. The morning spring air hit your cheeks in a brisk wind, and you buried your chin down into your scarf. A mass of students had formed around a sign that had been put outside the Great Hall, all muttering to their friends about something exciting they must be reading. You watched them for a second, and then wandered over to see what all the fuss was about. Whatever they were reading, you thought, it might be important. You stood on your tiptoes at the back of the group, and squinted your eyes to try and read the parchment. 

“They’re going to be here in two days!” a small Hufflepuff boy said to his friend next to him. “It’s going to be totally wicked!” 

“And classes ending early?” the other boy squealed. “How much better can this year get?” 

They? It must have something to do with those schools coming to Hogwarts for the tournament, you thought. 

A raven-haired girl emerged from the crowd, followed by several other girls, and locked eyes with you. You smiled as you recognised her, and she smiled back excitedly. 

“Y/N!” she chimed. 

“Hey, Cho,” you said, and she gave you a squeezy hug. All you wanted this morning was to just take a break from everyone, you thought to yourself. But at least with Cho, it didn’t feel as draining to convince her that you were okay. It felt easy to talk to her and forget about what was going on around you. Being with the same people all the time, it was always nice for a change of pace. “How have you been?” she asked you. “It feels like I’ve barely seen you this term.” 

“I know, I’ve been super busy,” you said in your most convincing voice. “N.E.W.T subjects and all. What about you?” 

“Oh, you know,” she began. “Fifth year is kind of starting to get to me, but I think I’m managing well enough. Have you read the notice yet?” 

“No, I haven’t,” you told her. “No one seems to be moving.” 

“It’s just about the tournament,” Cho explained, and you nodded. “The two schools are arriving this Friday at six, and we get to leave class half an hour early so we can go and greet them before the feast we’re putting on.” 

“Oh, great!” you said. “I guess the weeks have been flying by kind of quickly, I didn’t realise how soon it all was.” 

“Me too,” Cho agreed. “Are you thinking of entering?” 

“Uh, maybe,” you said. “It all sounds a bit dangerous, but I might just put my name in. I doubt I’ll get chosen, though.” 

“Well, if you do,” Cho said. “I’ll be supporting you any way I can.” 

You smiled gratefully at her comment. “Thanks, Cho. Anyway, I’ve got to get to class, but I’ll see you soon.” 

“Sure thing, Y/N,” Cho smiled. “Have a good class.” 

“You too!” you waved, and headed for the clocktower to go down to your lesson. 

As you began to step down the path to Hagrid’s hut, the wind began to whistle through the ancient trees of the forbidden forest up ahead. The sky looked to be clearing in the distance, with the grey clouds of the morning beginning to move away to reveal the sun. The stone steps were still damp from the shower this morning, and you did your best to try not to slip up on your way down. As the hut came into view, you could already see a group of Ravenclaw students congregated outside with a tall, burly man at the centre of attention. 

“‘Mornin, Y/N,” Hagrid said as you approached the group. You smiled at him, and hung back from the Ravenclaw student, who began to ask Hagrid multitudes of questions about the Care of Magical Creatures exam that was taking place on Friday morning. 

“Now, I don’ know nothin’ about it,” Hagrid explained to them. “The Depar’ment of Magical education is runnin this test for me. I’ve taught yeh everything they said you need teh know.” “But what about what we’re learning this week?” one of the girls chimed. “Is this part of module one?” 

“No,” Hagrid told her. “We’re movin’ into module two now. It’s on yer syllabus.” 

You kept listening to the students prodding Hagrid for help on the exam - he was usually one to spill at least one or two secrets about previous exams, but you guessed that Dumbledore had to intervene and make sure that anything about these exams weren’t going to get out any time soon. The exam was probably going to be more difficult now that the Ministry was responsible for what was going to be on it, but you had already been studying hard for this test, and weren’t too worried about it. 

More students were beginning to arrive as you heard the final bell ring up at the castle. Hagrid began to call the group forward as the stragglers joined the group, and you looked behind you, watching them come in, hoping to catch a glance of… 

Cedric. 

He stood at the back of the group as he arrived with a hand casually in his pocket, and you turned back to face Hagrid while you felt a genuine smile form on your face. Why did he have to make your plan so difficult?

“Alrigh’ you lot!” Hagrid bellowed. “Let’s see what we have in store for today!” 

He began to walk towards the forest, rounding behind his hut to a small fenced off area. You wondered what you were going to be looking at today. If you were lucky, maybe you’d see some more unicorn foals. But equine creatures was the last module. You were starting birds and animals with wings today, you recalled. Maybe it could be something like a Thunderbird? That might explain the grey clouds overhead. Or maybe a phoenix? You heard rumours that Dumbledore had one. But as you approached the fence, you were confused. There wasn’t anything in there. “Now, we will be startin’ your bird module today,” Hagrid started. “And I need you all to get in’o pairs for it, please.” 

You looked around to all the students grabbing their friends to partner up with, and a sense of loneliness came over you. You did have one friend in this class, but you thought that someone would’ve probably partnered up with him already. You looked back to where you thought Cedric might be, but your heart sank to your feet as you saw that he wasn’t there. You tried to see if any other students were left by themselves like you. There was a Slytherin boy hanging at the back of the group, but he looked way too intimidating. There was a Hufflepuff girl looking around like you were, and you locked eyes with her. 

“Y/N?” you heard coming from behind you. You jumped as a hand touched your shoulder, but you already knew who that voice belonged to. You turned to Cedric, and felt relief wash over you. “I suppose we’d better partner up.” 

You knew that this would be a bad idea. Getting to spend more time with Cedric than you already did in this class would only dismantle your plan even more. You could feel the crush you had on him seeping back into your body every time you caught his eye, or watched him smile and laugh with his friends. And now being partners with him, you knew that you wouldn’t be able to suppress it anymore. But what other choice did you have? The Hufflepuff girl you had spotted moments ago was now partnered up with the scary Slytherin boy. You realised that you’d just havd to grin and bear it. 

“I suppose so,” you smiled.

“Now,” Hagrid continued. “I s’ppose we better get started.” 

He turned to the area where you deduced must have some sort of creature in it. Maybe it was hiding from us? Or sleeping underground? 

“Can anyone tell me what we have here?” Hagrid asked. Everyone in front of you looked to their friends, laughing slightly. You looked up to Cedric, who gave you a confused look. 

“Nothing, sir!” someone heckled from the back of the group, making some students laugh. 

“Well, I suppose you migh’ be right,” Hagrid said. “But, wha’ I need you all to do, is to be very quiet. Then, we migh’ just see some magic happen.” 

You stood for a minute, keeping your eyes on the pen. Nothing seemed to be happening, but everyone else around you was still patiently waiting. And then, you caught something. 

It was a bird. It was no bigger than Beetle was, with a thick, hooked beak and shimmery grey and blue feathers. And then another appeared in the far corner, with what looked like a baby, with fuzzy brown feathers running after its mother. And before you knew it, there were ten birds that had appeared out of nowhere. Everyone began cooing at them, but Hagrid kept insisting that they keep the noise down. 

“Now these,” he said, in a quieter voice. “Are Diricawl birds. Now, if you’re familiar with extinct muggle animals, you migh’ recognise the name ‘Dodo bird’. Well, I can tell you now, that these birds are not extinct like yeh thought, because they’re righ’ there.” 

You looked back in the pen with your mouth slightly open. You have definitely heard of the dodo bird before. But how would they be here, in front of you? 

“Now, wha’ we’re up to today is helpin’ the new mums out with their eggs,” Hagrid said, which made some girls in front of you squeal in delight. “There’s only enough eggs for 10 pairs and...let’s see… we’ve got 9 pairs. That’s alrigh’, we can work someth’n out with the last one. We’ll set up some incubatin’ stations in the second part of the lesson, but for now, let's see if you can gain the trust of our mums and dads here.” 

Hagrid opened the gate to the pen, and everyone filed in. But something extraordinary happened as the first few students entered - the birds vanished.

“What’s happened to them?” someone asked behind you as you stepped into the area. 

“Well, they’ve gone in’o hidin’, haven’ they,” Hagrid explained. “They can sense that there migh’ be some danger around with you lo’ comin’ into their home, so they disappear some place else to hide.” 

“Like apparition?” Cedric asked next to you. 

“Almost,” Hargid explained. “But not quite how we understand it. Have you learn’ how to apparate yet?” 

The class shook their heads. 

“Ah,” Hagrid sighed. “Well I guess you’ll learn how to do that later. Like disappearin’ from one place and reappearin’ in another. Dunno where they go, but they always come back here. Everything’s easier here for them I guess. Why don’t you go off in your pairs around the place and maybe try sittin’. They’re most likely intimidated by your height. Then just let them come to you, and then just scratch their chest area. They like that. And they don’t bite unless provoked. So don’t go provokin’ ‘em. And take some seeds with ye’. They’ll like that, too.” 

You looked to Cedric, who you noticed was looking a bit pale. Maybe he was just cold? 

“Where shall we go?” you asked him, picking up a small bag of seed out of the satchel Hagrid held open. 

“Uh,” he stammered. “Maybe just in that far corner.” 

He pointed in the distance to a place next to some water troughs, and you nodded, leading the way. You sat down on a pile of hay, and leaned your back against the fence, watching everyone else sit around the pen. Cedric came down next to you, his legs somewhat shaky as he crossed them in front of him. He didn’t move his eyes, but just stared down at a latch of grass in front of him. 

“Are you feeling okay?” you asked him. He managed to look at you, and you could just make out small beads of sweat forming on his forehead. 

“Uh, kind of,” Cedric said, his voice twinged with a wobble. You felt a pang of concern, and observed his body for any more visible symptoms. 

“What’s the matter?” you asked quickly.

“Um, it’s nothing,” Cedric said, shaking his head. You kept looking at him, raising one of your eyebrows slightly. 

“I can tell something’s wrong,” you told him. “Do you want me to take you to the hospital wing?” 

“No, no,” Cedric insisted. “Nothing like that. Uh, it’s kind of embarrassing, actually.” 

Embarrassing? How could an illness be so embarrassing? 

“What do you mean?” you questioned. Cedric sighed, and turned to face you. 

“Alright; but this stays between us, okay?” Cedric said in a low voice. You nodded, now dying to know what Cedric was about to tell you. 

“I’m, um,” he began. “I’m terrified of birds.” 

You looked at him, slightly stunned for a moment. 

“Please don’t laugh,” Cedric said. “I know it sounds ridiculous, and it is. But when I was younger, I loved Hippogriffs. Like, I was borderline obsessed with them. All I ever wanted was to have one that I could ride around on or fly wherever I wanted and keep as a pet, but of course mum and dad wouldn’t hear of it, and rightfully so. But then for my eighth birthday, my mum and dad took me to a Hippogriff sanctuary, and I was so excited to see them up close in real life. So, I did what any stupid kid would do. I ran up to one, and it reared up to attack me, and it's talon just clipped my forearm.” 

“Ouch,” was all you managed to say while hissing in a breath. “Were you okay after that?” 

“Yeah,” Cedric continued. “Luckily the staff there knew what to do, and it didn’t do anything more serious to me. And apparently for the rest of the day I was just sobbing. Mum and dad didn’t know what to do. So, ever since then I’ve been petrified of birds.” 

“But Hippogriffs aren’t birds,” you commented. 

“Well, yeah,” Cedric agreed. “But all I can remember from that day was it’s huge wings and all its feathers when it attacked me. I passed out from shock afterwards. You should’ve seen it.” 

“Yeah, I remember Buckbeak last year,” you reflected. “He was quite scary, if you ask me.” 

“Don’t even go there,” Cedric said, chuckling slightly. “I had to stand at the back of class when Hagrid brought him out. I could barely look at him.” 

“Lucky it wasn’t you in the hospital wing, then,” you said, remembering the ordeal that occurred when Malfoy was struck by Buckbeak last year. Cedric nodded, and kept his eyes firmly on the birds that were appearing further ahead. 

It felt somewhat strange to have Cedric open up to you like this. Like he considered you someone worthy enough to trust with one of his deep dark secrets, even though you'd only really become friends this term. But it also made you feel special at the same time. But you couldn't let this get to you. He was just explaining to you why he was feeling the way he was. 

A flurry of feathers was beginning to form around the groups as more birds began to appear. They nervously approached the students, who did their best to not scare them, and offered them some food while they scratched them under their necks as they became more comfortable around the class. You noticed that the mum and the chick you saw earlier were hanging back from the rest of the birds, the brown baby tucked behind it’s mum. It began to walk in your direction, keeping a firm eye on the students, who’s volume was beginning to turn up again. As it approached you, you could see Cedric tensing up in your periphery. 

“Try not to make it scared,” you whispered to him. “Any movement could deter it.”

“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing,” Cedric muttered. 

“It’s not going to hurt you,” you said. “I promise.” 

The mum turned as locked eyes with you as she heard Cedric shuffling backwards on his hands as quietly as he could. He froze in place, slowly lowering his body down to the ground to sit. The mum cooed gutterly as she looked at you curiously, and you slowly offered the bag of seed to them. It’s baby chirped happily behind her, stepping out from behind her. You sat as still as you could, trying your best to keep your breathing under control to minimise your movements. The mum stepped forward, then waddled up to the bag off seed and dipped her beak in, rummaging around to see what was in there. She squawked enthusiastically, and came out with a beak full of seed before dropping it on the ground in front of the baby, who took to the food with a chattering squeal. 

“Are you okay?” you whispered in Cedric’s direction the best you could while you watched the two birds happily pecking at the pile of seeds. 

“Uh, I think so,” Cedric said. “I’m glad we’re not over there.” 

You looked up to the group up ahead, where birds were squawking and pecking at the students, wanting more food. 

“Me too,” you said, observing the mum and baby again. They looked very content, you thought. Better than fighting over their food with the others. 

As their seeds disappeared into the hay below them, the mum moved in closer to you, starting to invade your personal space. 

“Woah,” you laughed. “You must be hungry.” 

You held out some seeds in the palm of your hand, which she took to gratefully. With your other hand, you scratched her chest, which made her body shake. 

“Aw, I think you like that,” you smiled, watching her eyes close over as you hit just the right spot. “Do you think you’re ready for a turn, Cedric?” 

You turned back to look at him, his eyes fixed on the bird in front of you. “Um,” he hummed. “Sure. Why not.” 

“Are you sure?” you asked. “It’s totally fine if you don’t want to. I understand.” 

“It’s alright, Y/N,” he sighed. “May as well try and get over it in the first lesson.” 

You nodded, and threw the rest of the seeds in your hand into the hay. You got up on your knees and went over to Cedric, feeling a giddy smile take over your mouth. 

Stop it, you thought to yourself. It’s only going to get worse if you keep this up. 

But you couldn’t really stop. These feelings felt like they were turning into something more. The more you tried to resist them, the more they grabbed a hold of you. But you knew you couldn’t keep this up, especially because of Fred. You even being around Cedric seemed to upset him, and that’s the last thing you wanted. You knew that Fred and George had a vendetta against him from last year’s Quidditch match against Hufflepuff, but for some reason it ran the deepest with Fred. And you couldn’t quite pick out why. 

You handed the bag of seeds to Cedric, and sat on your knees just behind him, watching the birds follow you. 

“Okay,” you said. “Just tip some seeds into your hands, and they’ll come up to you.” 

Cedric did as so, his hands slightly shaky. The mum approached the seeds, and looked at them, before pecking lightly to pick some up. 

“You’re doing great,” you smiled, looking now at Cedric’s scrunched up face. 

“It tickles!” he said, giggling slightly as the mum’s beak pecked at his hand. You smiled as you watched, grabbing some seeds for yourself to give to the baby. 

“You could try and give her a pat, if you’re ready,” you told Cedric. “She’s very soft.” 

You watched Cedric’s face relax as he looked down at his hands, looking slightly frightened as he watched the mum take to the remaining seeds he held out to her. 

“It’s okay,” you reassured him. “She’s not going to hurt you.” 

He exhaled a deep breath, and slowly moved his hand over to her. She didn’t seem to mind, still grabbing at the seeds. His hand met her chest, and he patted in very slow movements. You could just see a small grin form on his face as he kept patting her. 

“This is amazing,” he whispered. He patted her one more time, and her head perked up, as did the baby’s as it took a seed from your fingers, and dropped it on the ground. You could see Hagrid, now standing in the middle of the pen with a silver whistle in his mouth. The birds all began to run towards him, surrounding the area at his feet. He stepped over them, and opened the gate of the pen to a smaller area with little wooden huts, where they all filed into. 

“Alright, you lot,” Hagrid said, signalling you in. “Bring it in.” 

You rocked forward onto your knees, stepping up with one foot. Your legs felt stiff from sitting like that for so long, and took a few steps to loosen them up. Cedric followed you, and caught up to you as you approached the group. 

“Thank you,” he whispered to you. “I don’t think I could’ve done that without you.” 

You turned to him, and smiled, feeling heat rush to your cheeks. “Anytime.” 

“Alright, settl’ down,”Hagrid boomed, his voice echoing off the glass walls and ceiling of the greenhouse. You had all just set up incubation boxes for the Diricawl eggs, and the bell to signal the end of class was chiming in the distance. “We’re going to leave the eggs in here, and come back Friday morning after your exam to check on ‘em. Have a good day, an’ I’ll see you all soon.” 

You turned to pack up your book, Cedric doing the same next to you. 

“What was he talking about just then?” he asked you as you began to walk together out of the classroom. 

“What do you mean?” you asked, confused as to what Cedric was asking you. 

“The exam,” he said. “I guess it must be for some other class that everyone has.” 

“Uh,” you started. “It’s for this class.” 

Cedric stopped dead in his tracks. You looked back at him, and you swore you saw the blood drain out of his face. 

“What?” he muttered. 

“Uh, yeah,” you continued. “It’s been in our syllabus. Did you not know?” 

“I must’ve read it, I’ve just forgotten,” Cedric muttered again. “I feel so stupid. How could I forget.” 

“It’s no big deal,” you reassured him, continuing to walk back into the castle. “It’s just on these last few weeks. It’ll be easy to catch up.” 

“Yeah, maybe,” Cedric began. “If I didn’t have a ton of other assignments to finish. Say, you wouldn’t mind helping me out tonight, would you? I don’t think I have any other time to spare before Friday.” 

Now, you were sure that the blood draining from your face was as visible as it felt. 

“Uh, that should work,” you said, coming out of the courtyard and turning the corner to the intersection of the moving staircases and the kitchen, where you suspected the Hufflepuff dormitory was. You could now just make out Fred, George and Sophie gathered at the end of the corridor, laughing amongst themselves. You hoped they weren’t waiting for you, and would clear out before they saw you with- 

Nevermind. 

“Y/N!” George shouted. “Hurry up! We want tea and biscuits.” 

You shook your head, laughing awkwardly next to Cedric as the group approached you. 

“Alright, thanks again, Y/N,” Cedric said, resting his hand on your upper arm sending shocks through your upper body. “And thanks for offering to help. I’ll meet you in the library after dinner?” 

“Uh, sure,” you said. “I’ll be there.” 

“Great,” Cedric smiled, sending your heart racing. “I’ll see you then.” 

“See you, Ced,” George said, giving him a smile which Cedric returned with a nod. He turned back down the corridor, and disappeared behind the sea of students heading to the Great Hall. 

“Alright, get your stuff and come back down here as quick as possible,” George instructed. “I’m starving.” 

“So demanding,” you sneered. “I’ll meet you guys there.” 

You began to walk into the corridor, before you felt someone catch your arm. 

“Can I talk to you?” Fred asked, to which you nodded. He looked serious, which concerned you, and pulled you to the side of the corridor looking out into the courtyard. 

“I thought we had plans tonight, to study together,” he said. “Did something change?”

You thought back to this morning - it felt like a blur of emotions and words said that you can’t even remember now. It was so hazy. You were trying your best to forget about the dream, but you must've also forgotten your plans.

“No, I..” you began. “I think I just forgot. I’m sorry.” 

Fred shook his head, subtly rolling his eyes. “Have a nice night with Cedric, I guess.” 

And before you could say anything else, he stormed off towards the Great Hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to leave it on such a cliffhanger but this chapter was getting super long! I'll be sure to continue it soon. Again, thank you so much for your support!


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